Considerations and Pathways for Potential State Oversight of Community Water Systems’ Wildfire Fighting Efforts in California

Since the Los Angeles Fires of January 2025, dramatic shifts have occurred in perceptions, expectations, and understanding of water systems’ role in fighting wildfires in California. As a consequence, policy attention has increased regarding the potential for enhanced statewide oversight to enhance wildfire-fighting capacity across community water systems. No state in the U.S. has previously pursued this path. Water systems face many obstacles to fighting wildfires that they have not been expected or supported to overcome. At the same time, as wildfires become more urban and increasingly encroach into the service territories of community water systems, the concept introduces interesting questions and potential innovations in design and implementation that may be good investments as part of long-term climate change adaptation.