By Charming Evelyn
On a recent trip to Los Angeles City Hall, I couldn’t help but stop in wonder at the beautiful sight of the Los Angeles Native Toyon trees filled with red berries that populated the front lawn of City Hall. The Toyon is the official plant of the City of Los Angeles, so designated by Mayor Villaraigosa.
Every time I have the occasion to go down to City Hall, I remember this was our first really big victory in moving Los Angeles to conserve water and asking the City of LA to lead by example. Our request yielded meetings with Councilmember Koretz and Mayor Villaraigosa but went nowhere because of a lack of funding. Then came the Occupy LA movement which camped out on the front and side lawns of City Hall for months, so much so the turf was killed.
A window of opportunity was opened once we learnt the Occupy movement would be dispersed. We immediately wrote a letter to the Mayor asking for turf removal. The Mayor invited Sierra Club along with other CBO’s such as Theodore Payne Nurseries to that first meeting to discuss replacing the turf with California natives. There were subsequent meetings, which all led to a day of service on MLK day 2012, to get our hands dirty. Along with Mayor Villaraigosa and other volunteers from other organizations, we dug, mulched and planted the flowers that you now see today at City Hall: Irises, Toyon, Bird of Paradise and many others.
Since then we have had many triumphs and have been at the forefront of many battles. Our campaign to make conservation mandatory and a way of life is coming to fruition at the CA water board; water agencies have enacted better conservation measures and invested in conservation for the rate payers; agencies have enacted 4 tier rate pricing which encourages water conservation; we were early supporters of water recycling, purple pipes, indirect potable reuse and direct potable reuse (DPR), leading the way to adopt DPR support policy for Sierra Club CA and we’ve been engaged at every level to support legislation to advance DPR as a solution to CA’s mismanagement of water.
We’ve been very influential in waterboard politics and partnering with both the OC and LA Political Committees on water board endorsements and we plan to be active again this year. Knowledgeable water board directors make better decisions for both people and the environment.
Swearing in of Director Scott Houston – West Basin MWD
We’ve opposed and won 2 large victories opposing proposed ocean desalination facilities and championed and lobbied for funding to support LADWP’s Remediation Project in the San Fernando Valley and their Replenishment Project while supporting Pure Water Projects to build local resilience and lessen our reliance on imported water. We were very busy with many outreach events last year and some stand out – speaking at a youth conference called Generation Earth and having the youth ask for my autograph, the Annual West Basin Water Festival and Lobby Day in Sacramento. What a great trip and treat that was!
West Basin Annual Water Festival 2023
Last year I was very fortunate to represent Sierra Club as an appointee to the CA Coastal Commission Advisory Council on Sea Level Rise and Environmental Justice where I met some wonderful activists; The keynote speaker for the Asian American Pacific Islander Climate Convening, a guest lecturer at CalPoly Pomona on water and environmental justice, was on so many panels, did so many interviews with the media, I have lost track of it all. However, there were some highlights – filming a documentary for German/French TV on CA water with Cleveland, filming a television interview for an ABC affiliate in NorCal, both filmed at the Angeles Chapter offices. I ended the year with an interview with the Washington Post on my environmental legacy to California and was honored for my contribution to water by the WeTap Foundation.
I am happy to report that I have been invited back by CalPoly Pomona again this year, and that my lecture greatly influenced the students in the way they now think of the environment and they have also organized. What a validation!
Looking forward to 2024 – we continue to foster good relationships with like-minded organizations and Tribal Communities. The fight continues to lessen our dependence on the Colorado River, the San Joaquin Bay-Delta and Mono Lake. Back from the dead, is the zombie project Cadiz with a new twist, billing themselves as an environmental justice organization, through an organization called Groundswell and committing the grave sin of using labor champion Dolores Huerta as a front to sell their snake oil. Her organization fought back with a great press release.
We made great strides with construction dewatering last year, and I’m happy to report Heal The Bay is now joining in our campaign on that front and we will be ramping up our campaign this year, now that we’ve put everyone on notice, from the water agencies to the Board of Supervisors and Mayor’s office. We’ve been exceedingly busy for the first quarter of the year already, Sierra Club CA has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Water Resources (DWR) challenging the Final Environmental Impact Report for the Delta Conveyance and we won another suit filed against DWR for trying to use bonds to finance the tunnel.
At this point, I do want to show gratitude to all the water warriors out there, those on the listserv to those of you who show up to our monthly meetings. Those who call in to give public comments, write letters, articles and show up in every way to give power and momentum to this space. I also want to thank the staff at so many of the water, state and city agencies who make this work enjoyable and allow us to build relationships to create better water policy. It wouldn’t happen without the cooperation of many.
Last but not least I want to thank all the members of the Water Committee both state and local for allowing me to be a co-pilot on this wonderful journey.
Water Day of Action – Lobby Day in Sacramento
Charming is the Chair of the Angeles Chapter Water Committee, Co Chair of the Sierra Club CA Water Committee and Vice Chair of the Angeles Chapter Environmental & Social Justice Committee.