South Bay Watch

SOUTH BAY WATCH

PREPARING FOR A PARCHED FUTURE

GENERAL ASSEMBLY RECAP: THE SOUTH BAY TAKES STEPS TO MINIMIZE DEPENDENCE ON EXTERNAL WATER RESOURCES

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The 23rd General Assembly

Water Panel Details How Subregion is Responding to Shrinking Water Resources and “Weather Whiplash”

When it comes to predicting weather patterns in California, Forrest Gump may have said it best.

“‘Life is like a box of chocolates,’ and I think this applies to California, where we experience variable hydrologic conditions, so we really don’t know what we’re going to get,” said Tiffany Tran, associate resource specialist, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD), referencing the famous movie line.

Tran kicked off the discussion “Preparing for a Parched Future” at the South Bay Cities Council of Governments (SBCCOG) 23rd General Assembly on March 23. The panel evaluated the impacts of climate change on water resources and supplies, and highlighted efforts by regional agencies and cities already preparing for those impacts.

According to Tran, historically California already has the largest year-to-year variability in precipitation in the United States. She links the more recent extreme “weather whiplash” to a global warming trend. Climate.gov statistics indicate 10 of the

warmest years in the historical record have occurred since 2010. With this, California has experienced increased wildfires, rare and extreme storm events, heat waves, low snowpack and flooding.

MANAGING THE IMPACTS OF EXTREME DROUGHT

MWD is the nation’s largest wholesale water provider. It services 19 million people across six counties in Southern California and is comprised of 26 member agencies with different levels of dependence on MWD. Water sources for the region include its member agencies’ projects and programs, such as the Los Angeles Aqueduct, conservation, groundwater recycling and desalination. The remaining need is satisfied through MWD’s imported supplies from the Colorado River via the Colorado River Aqueduct, which MWD owns and operates, and from Northern California through MWD’s participation in the State Water Project, which is owned and operated by the California Department of Water Resources.

As temperatures rise, more precipitation will fall as rain instead of snow. Drier conditions will also reduce the amount of runoff that makes its way to streams, rivers and reservoirs. According to Tran, dry conditions from 2020 to 2022 in Northern California resulted in the lowest three-year combined deliveries of allocated water in the history of the State Water Project.

In addition, due to ongoing drought and increased demand for water, reservoirs on the Colorado River system, such as Lake Mead, have been shrinking since the year 2000.

“For the first time, we have drought conditions on the Colorado [River] and we have drought conditions on the State Water Project. We’re used to having one or the other, but to have both at the same time is unprecedented,” said Liz Crosson, sustainability and resilience and innovation officer, MWD.

Thanks to recent storms, conditions have improved, but MWD is asking its communities to continually review ways to take advantage of intermittent wet periods and paths to store and preserve water to manage future dry years.

SOUTH BAY WATER PROGRESS

West Basin Municipal Water District is a wholesale water agency that provides imported drinking water and recycled water to a service area of nearly 1 million people, and 17 cities and unincorporated areas in Los Angeles County. Gregory Reed, general manager, West Basin, highlighted its efforts to improve water resiliency.

More than 25 years ago, West Basin received state and federal funding to design and build the Edward C. Little Water Recycling Facility, the largest facility of its kind in the United States. In partnership with the city of Los Angeles, it delivers up to 40 million gallons of water per day to 350 different sites, conserving enough drinking water to meet the needs of 80,000 households per year. The facility also diverts 40 million gallons of treated sewage each day from being discharged into Santa Monica Bay.

Several different types of customer-specific recycled water are produced at the facility:

Tiffany Tran, associate resource specialist, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (at podium), leads the conversation “Preparing for at Parched Future” at the 23rd General Assembly on March 23.

Irrigation Water: This water is used to maintain green spaces at local city parks, golf courses, street medians and schools.

Industrial Water: This resource is provided to refineries, such as the Chevron Nitrification Treatment Plant in El Segundo for use in fuel production and other industrial processes.

Groundwater Replenishment: Advanced treated water is used for groundwater replenishment and as a barrier against seawater intrusion, protecting local groundwater aquifers from contamination.

CITY OF TORRANCE

The city of Torrance has been successful at creating a diversified water portfolio. It includes additional groundwater resources and desalinization, according to Chuck Schaich, policy and resource specialist at Torrance Public Works.

Two new potable (drinking water that comes from surface and ground sources) wells will double groundwater production later this year as part of the North Torrance Well Field Project. It will produce between 4,000- and 5,000 acre-feet of water per year.

Torrance, the largest city in the South Bay, has its own municipal water service. California Water Service also provides water to the city.

Torrance has a brackish (saltwater) plume in its groundwater due to overpumping in the 1930s through the early 1960s. It recently completed the Goldsworthy Groundwater Desalter expansion in partnership with the Water Replenishment District to desalinize the brackish groundwater. It currently produces 20% of the city’s potable water, with plans for expansion of the facility in the next three years to further reduce imported water and

enhance the reliability and sustainability of its water resources.

In addition, Torrance is developing a potable groundwater project. When completed the Torrance Municipal Water service area will derive approximately 75% of its water from local sources.

THE CITY OF LOMITA

The Cypress Water Production Facility (CWPF) was constructed to reduce reliance on costly imported water for Lomita’s nearly 23,000 residents located within 2 square miles, according to Ryan Smoot, city manager, city of Lomita. Imported water purchased from West Basin Municipal Water District costs the city roughly double that of treated groundwater.

At CWPF, imported surface water purchased from West Bain and treated groundwater are blended. The blended water supply provides improved water reliability while reducing the cost of water to ratepayers in the city. The mix of groundwater and imported water changes throughout the year as imported water prices fluctuate.

When in operation, CWPF is the main source of water supplied to the area of the city located north of the Pacific Coast Highway and accounts for approximately two-thirds of the total demand for water in the community.

The city is exploring secondary/redundant well feasibility and locations to minimize dependence on external water sources. •

Watch a replay of the “Preparing for a Parched Future” presentation, along with other sessions from the 23rd General Assembly, at bit.ly/3Lwy1on.

Thank you, sponsors, for your generous support

23rd Annual SBCCOG General Assembly

Benefactors $5,000

Chevron Products Company

• Continental Development Corporation | Mar Ventures, Inc. • Daily Breeze | Beach Reporter | Palos Verdes

Peninsula News • LA County

Supervisor Holly Mitchell

• Port of Los Angeles •

South Bay Association of REALTORS®

Sponsors $2,500

California State University, Dominguez Hills • Clean Power Alliance • Geo Search, Inc. • Kosmont Companies

• LA County Supervisor

Janice Hahn • Metropolitan Water District of Southern California

• Southern California Association of Governments • Southern California Edison • SoCalGas

• South Bay Galleria • Studio One Eleven • The Energy Coalition • Water Replenishment District of Southern California • Watson Land Company • West Basin Municipal Water District

Friends of the SBCCOG

Easy Reader • Fehr & Peers

• South Bay Workforce

Investment Board • Sunflower Farms Nursery • Theodore Payne Foundation

SPECIAL THANKS

City of Carson for hosting the event

SBCCOG Studies Conversion of Underperforming Commercial Areas to Create More Housing

Even before COVID-19 closures--but but especially in the aftermath-retail has been increasingly shifting to e-commerce and South Bay residents to work-from-home arrangements. As a result, many of the South Bay’s commercial clusters and corridors have become vacant and/or underutilized.

Meanwhile, South Bay communities are challenged to identify enough suitable properties to support the housing production needed to meet the state’s requirement under the latest, 6th cycle Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA). Governor Gavin Newsom has also set the ambitious target of building 3.4 million new homes by 2025.

To help the South Bay meet its housing targets in a largely “built-out” subregion, the South Bay Cities Council of Governments (SBCCOG) is leading a project to identify and reimagine underutilized commercial properties that are strong candidates for new housing to increase housing supply. The project leverages such underperforming parcels for potential redevelopment among the South Bay’s urban development profile. This includes strip arterials, regional malls, office buildings and industrial parks.

“The study we’re doing is very innovative in terms of the scale,” said Wally Siembab, research director, SBCCOG. “Other cities have conducted studies, but not across an

entire subregion. We are looking at many different land-use configurations, sizes and community characteristics. The results will be shared across all South Bay cities, as well as with LA County.”

Cities participating in the research include Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, El Segundo, Carson and Hawthorne. Within these cities two redevelopment priority areas are then identified for study based on sustainable housing criteria. Such criteria ensure that any new housing would be placed in destination- and amenity-rich areas that promote zero-emission travel, such as walking and biking.

It’s also assessing areas located near the SBCCOG’s South Bay Local Travel Network

“The study we’re doing is very innovative in terms of the scale. We are looking at many different land-use configurations, sizes and community characteristics.”

(LTN) project, a 243-mile route of streets under development. The LTN is designed to support the growing use of zero-emission, slow-speed vehicles, such as neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs), which are similar to golf carts, e-bikes and e-scooters.

The project aims to preserve existing tax revenue and community benefit uses by maintaining existing, profitable retail. Once areas are identified, further analysis is conducted to determine development potential, site constraints, available infrastructure and site context.

Properties are then further prioritized

for hypothetical transformations of different sizes, development scales and typologies. Possibilities include partial conversion, adaptive reuse (where the structure is preserved but adapted for full or partial housing), rehabilitation and entirely new development.

The study is being financed with California Regional Early Action Planning funding that the SBCCOG is receiving from the Southern California Association of Governments, designed to spur affordable housing production.

SBCCOG is working in partnership with a

Lomita Railroad Station Featured in Winning Photo Contest Image

Aparked early 1900s Southern Pacific steam locomotive, a 1949 Santa Fe caboose and a 1923 Union Oil tank car are sights that likely take many motorists by surprise as they make their way down 250th Street in the serene city of Lomita. When Brian Mitchell learned of their existence, he decided the industrial antique train cars at the Lomita Railroad Museum were just the objects he wanted to capture for his class assignment at Creative Photo Academy at Paul’s Photo in Torrance.

“You are in this residential neighborhood, and then, boom, there are trains there,” Mitchell said. “It’s pretty impressive. There are full-scale trains of all kinds. It’s a great photo opportunity.”

Mitchell’s photo captured the attention of voters in the South Bay Cities Council of Government’s (SBCCOG) second annual Why I Love the South Bay photo contest. The contest invited the community to submit their best photographs of South Bay landmarks. The winning photo was announced at the 23rd General Assembly on March 23.

“We received a nice variety this year representing points of interest from many iconic South Bay locations, ranging from the Vincent Thomas Bridge to the Redondo Beach Historic Library,” said Jacki Bacharach, executive director of the SBCCOG. “It’s fun to see what inspires the creative imagination of our community’s residents.”

The SBCCOG received more than 65 entries. With the help of Kevin Cody, publisher and founder of Easy Reader, the organization narrowed them down to 10 finalists. Another of Mitchell’s images, featuring the Point Fermin Lighthouse in San Pedro, also made the top 10.

Mitchell has been a South Bay resident for more than 50 years and is a retired landscape architect. He has worked to develop a few notable South Bay landmarks himself, including Wilson Park in Torrance and the Home Depot Center in Carson.

To view the other nine finalists’ photos, visit southbaycities.org/photo-contest. To learn more about the Lomita Railroad Museum, built in 1966, visit lomita-rr.org.

consultant team comprised of Studio One Eleven, Dudek and Kosmont Companies to identify areas suitable for targeted housing development. SBCCOG and the consultant team are highly focused on context-appropriate housing development solutions that fit with the scale and character of the existing neighborhood.

The SBCCOG staff will present recommendations on findings to its board of directors this summer. •

Visit

Brian Mitchell received a congratulatory certificate for his winning photo at the SBCCOG’s 23rd General Assembly on March 23.

Brian Mitchell captured this winning image at the Lomita Railroad Museum.

Rolling Hills Estates Gets “Charge Ready” in Time for Earth Day

Coinciding with Earth Day in April, the city of Rolling Hills Estates activated seven new electric vehicle charging stations (EVCS). The stations provide 12 new connections in the city hall parking lot, boosting the location’s total to 14.

The Level 2, 240-volt charging stations—including two that are disabledaccess compliant—can be used by the public 24/7. Each provides a full charge for most 100% battery electric vehicles in four to eight hours, and for hybrid (electric and gas vehicles) in one to two hours.

Rolling Hills Estates Councilmember Debby Stegura, who chairs the Environmental Advisory Committee, said the committee recommended the expansion of EVCS infrastructure to further the city’s commitment to environmental stewardship and reduce its carbon footprint.

The installation is a culmination of the city’s participation in the Southern California Edison (SCE) Charge Ready program, which leverages funds for the design and installation of EVCS.The program incorporates smart technology that provides the ability to efficiently manage user fees, analyze station usage and produce energy and greenhouse gas emission reports. These reports provide data useful to the city’s Climate Action Plan, implemented through the South Bay Cities Council of Governments.

A Charge Ready grant covers 80% of project costs. The remaining 20%, including the purchase of the stations and signage, derives from a Local Government Partnership Program grant by the Air Quality Management District and Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee, along with city park facility funds, due to the lot’s service to two adjoining parks and an equestrian center. In addition, SCE offers a post installation station rebate to the city of approximately $725 per port.

A benefit of the EV Connect system is that is can be accessed by the user through an iOS/Android mobile app, which provides 24/7 support and tracks personal station usage.

Users will pay $.24 per kilowatt-hour plus a $.50 session fee but can incur additional costs for time spent in the space after being fully charged.

“By installing additional electric vehicle charging stations, the city is not only advancing its sustainability and resiliency efforts established in our general plan but also hoping to inspire others to do the same,” said Rolling Hills Estates Mayor Britt Huff. •

For more information, contact gabrielles@rollinghillsestates. gov or call 310-377-1577.

Seven new electric vehicle charging stations will serve visitors of Rolling Hills Estates City Hall, two adjoining parks and an equestrian center.

SBCCOG Tackles the South Bay’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Since the 1990s, the state of California has adopted environmental policies that set ambitious targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), with the most recent being a 40% decrease by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.

Setting the appropriate strategies to meet reduction goals starts with knowing current GHG levels. But gathering such data takes time and resources that city staff often don’t have.

South Bay Cities Council of Governments (SBCCOG)

CivicSpark Fellow Lauren Estrella is working to fill this need. Last year, Estrella received her Master of Science in environmental and occupational health. In January she became one of 135 emerging environmental leaders selected to get their feet wet toward a future environmental career through a CivicSpark Fellowship.

CivicSpark is an AmeriCorps program dedicated to the building capacity of local governments in California, Washington and Colorado to address emerging environmental and social equity resilience challenges such as climate change, water resource management, affordable housing and mobility. During their 11-month service year, CivicSpark Fellows complete research, planning or implementation of projects that provide the support public agencies need to advance their resilience initiatives.

Estrella is fulfilling her fellowship through work at the SBCCOG by conducting a meticulous review of GHGs for each of the 15 South Bay cities. SBCCOG volunteer Maria Fonseca, an engineer with solar energy experience, is assisting with the research.

To develop the inventories, Estrella and Fonseca are working with member cities to collect data and quantify emissions using the ClearPath tool (icleiusa.org/ clearpath) from ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability.

With a grant provided by SoCalGas and SoCal Edison, the SBCCOG previously conducted GHG inventories in 2005, 2007 and 2012. Estrella is comparing that data to current data. While it’s early in the process, so far, she is seeing a positive trend.

“It demonstrates that all of the work cities are doing to cut emissions—much of it driven by the SBCCOG’s Environmental Services Center (SBESC) Initiatives—is making an impact,” said Estrella.

The SBESC is a program that serves the subregion through energy efficiency, water conservation, waste reduction and transportation programs in partnership with cities and public agencies, such as West Basin Municipal Water District, Water Replenishment District (WRD), Southern California Regional Energy Network (SoCalREN), Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts and Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro).

Once Estrella’s research is completed, the next step will be for the SBCCOG—possibly a future CivicSpark Fellow—to update climate action plans (CAPs) strategies for South Bay cities. The SBCCOG developed CAPs for each city and the South Bay as a whole in 2017. These reports outline specific strategies for cities to implement to reach their goals.

“If this trend continues in the research, working with cities to develop cleaner mobility plans that include conversion to electric vehicles and ride share will be a big priority,” she said. “Having these inventories as a tool will arm us with the data to secure funding to support our cities in these efforts.” •

To read climate action plans for South Bay cities, visit southbaycities.org/ climate-action-planning.

From left: SBCCOG volunteer Maria Fonseca and CivicSpark Fellow Lauren Estrella are working to catalog the South Bay’s greenhouse gas emissions.

PERSPECTIVE

At the University of Southern California Nuzhdin Lab--a 6,000-squarefoot sustainable seaweed aquaculture laboratory at AltaSea-groundbreaking research is taking place on regenerative aquaculture.

Our Future is Blue

Nonprofit AltaSea Taps Ocean Resources to Solve Eco-Challenges

By Terry Tamminen, President/CEO of AltaSea

Two-thirds of our planet is covered by oceans, so when we look for solutions to climate change and sustainability challenges, why would we only look on land? The nonprofit AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles has developed a model to unleash the power of the ocean to meet these challenges by harnessing the “blue” economy. This includes aquaculture on land and at sea; clean renewable energy, such as wave power and pulling carbon pollution out of the ocean, with hydrogen as a byproduct that can power ships and trucks; and underwater robotics that can help us explore and understand our changing ocean to unlock even more innovation.

But this is not just a concept. Already 30 companies, university partners and impact investors call AltaSea home, and we are partnering with community colleges on credential programs in aquaculture, underwater robotics and maritime hydrogen uses. Thanks to a vision in 2014 and support from the Annenberg Foundation, AltaSea launched with a 50-year lease on our 35-acre campus. We are now converting our 100-year-old warehouse and wharf complex on the ocean into a place for researchers, entrepreneurs and nonprofits to collaborate under one roof—a 4-acre roof covered in 2.2 megawatts of solar panels. This is enough to power our programs and technologies or the equivalent of powering 700 homes.

Just one great example of this work is the University of Southern California Nuzhdin Lab, which is “domesticating” kelp to adapt to climate change and yield more food, fuels, pharmaceuticals and industrial ingredients from strains that are “seedless” so they can be farmed in the open ocean without endangering native coastal species. The AltaSea model is being replicated in the ports of Kearny, New Jersey and Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, joining them with institutions in Asia, Africa and Europe so we can share solutions in policy, technology and finance to scale very quickly.

We’re proud of the opportunities we’re creating to expand the collaborative blueeconomy innovation partnerships with a focus on underserved communities, especially around ports where residents have borne the disproportionate burden of air pollution and other consequences of a fossil-fueled economy. We’re creating more diverse, equitable and inclusive opportunities that the emerging blue economy can provide.

Shakespeare says, “Nature’s bequest gives nothing but doth lend. Then how, when nature calls thee to be gone, what acceptable audit canst thou leave?” Join the thousands of students, job trainees, researchers, innovators and policymakers at AltaSea and help us leave a legacy that even William Shakespeare would applaud. •

Published May 24, 2023, by the South Bay Cities Council of Governments

A quarterly bulletin to inform local leaders of subregional progress and alert them to emerging issues

Governing Board:

Chair

John Cruikshank, Rancho Palos Verdes

1st Vice Chair

Cedric Hicks, Carson

2nd Vice Chair

Rodney Tanaka, Gardena

Immediate Past Chair

Drew Boyles, El Segundo

Members:

Carson, County of LA, El Segundo, Gardena, Hawthorne, Hermosa Beach, Inglewood, Lawndale, Lomita, Los Angeles, Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Torrance

SBCCOG Executive Director

Jacki Bacharach

Legal Counsel

Michael Jenkins, Best Best & Krieger LLP

Treasurer

Joseph Lillio, Director of Finance City of El Segundo

To subscribe to SBCCOG newsletters or view past editions, visit southbaycities.org/newsletter.

To view a schedule of SBCCOG meetings, visit southbaycities.org/calendar.

Website: southbaycities.org

Like us: facebook.com/SBCCOG facebook.com/SBESC

Follow us: @SouthBayCCOG @SBESC

This publication is printed on paper that contains 10% post-consumer waste.