Water supplies ran dry in Los Angeles just when they were needed most

As wildfires rage in Los Angeles, another disaster is rapidly emerging: the city's water supply for firefighting is running out. Experts warn that if the fires continue to spread, there won't be enough water to control the blazes and maintain normal life for Los Angeles' nearly 4 million residents.

The shortage of available water has sparked a political dispute between President-elect Donald Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom. So, why does Los Angeles seem to be facing a water shortage crisis?

Since the wildfires began on Monday, it is believed that about 10 people have died, and nearly 180,000 residents have been ordered to evacuate their homes. Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley called the wildfires one of the most destructive natural disasters in Los Angeles history, with property damage from the Palisades Fire in the "thousands." However, as firefighters struggled to control the wildfires, the city's water supply also began to dwindle.

About 40% of Los Angeles' water supply comes from a state-controlled project linked to Northern California, and this year the state has limited the amount of water supplied. Nevertheless, water levels in Southern California reservoirs that help supply water are still higher than the average for the same period in previous years. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass stated that about 20% of the city's fire hydrants were dry as firefighters battled the blazes. Fires can also damage critical infrastructure by causing power outages and damaging water pipes. Firefighters are also facing further difficulties from the Santa Ana winds that occur between September and May.

The Santa Ana winds, known as "devil winds," have fueled some of California's worst fires. Southern California firefighters are accustomed to dealing with strong Santa Ana winds, but hurricane-force gusts earlier this week caught them off guard. These winds grounded firefighting aircraft that were supposed to be performing critical water drops, overwhelming the fire hydrant system. Los Angeles Fire Chief Adam VanGerpen said in an interview with CBS This Morning: "This is unlike anything I've seen in my 25 years of firefighting."

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power General Manager Janisse Quiñones stated that the intensity of the fires has made the demand for water four times higher than "anything we've ever seen in our system." She also said that fire hydrants are designed to extinguish fires in one or two houses at a time, not hundreds, and that refilling water tanks also requires the fire department to suspend firefighting operations.

Jay Lund, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Davis, said that city water tanks are usually designed to put out localized fires, not fires that are spreading like the ones in Los Angeles. Mr. Lund said: "The problem is not that Southern California doesn't have enough water, but that in specific areas of Southern California, there is not enough water within the few hours needed to fight the fires." The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power stated that they had filled all available water tanks in the city, including three 1 million gallon (3.8 million liter) tanks in the Palisades area, before the storm arrived.

Ms. Quiñones said at a press conference that the area ran out of three water storage tanks earlier on Wednesday. "We are using the city's water supply system to fight wildfires, which is really challenging," she added, noting that the demand for water in the Pacific Palisades area reached four times its normal level within 15 hours as firefighters battled the blazes. The department has urged local residents to conserve water and said that 18 water trucks ranging from 2,000 to 4,000 gallons have been deployed since Tuesday to help firefighters. Mr. Lund said that the nature of the fires makes it almost impossible to arrange enough water in advance.

"If everything catches fire at the same time, there's not enough water for everyone," he said. "There's simply no way to install pipelines to deliver large amounts of water to the area in a short period of time." Some experts describe the water supply problems during the Los Angeles wildfires as an infrastructure issue. Gregory Pierce, director of the Water Resources Group at UCLA and an adjunct professor in the Department of Urban Planning, said that even by Southern California standards, the fire was unusually intense. He said that the problem is not a lack of water, but the difficulty in quickly delivering large amounts of water to specific locations where it is needed, which would require significant investment in electricity and infrastructure.

The Los Angeles wildfires have exacerbated tensions between President-elect Donald Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom. On Thursday, Trump said on social media that Mr. Newsom should "turn on the water." Trump said: "No more excuses, this incompetent governor! It's too late now!" Governor Newsom responded to Trump's criticism in an interview with CNN. Newsom said: "People are fleeing. People are losing their lives. Children are losing their schools. Families are completely broken. Churches are burned down, and this guy wants to politicize it." "I have a lot of thoughts, and I know what I want to say, but I'm not going to say it."

Some experts have criticized President-elect Donald Trump's comments about the Los Angeles wildfires, calling them misinformation. Trump posted on his "Truth Social" media network, trying to link dry fire hydrants to criticism of the state's practices in balancing water supply to farms and cities with the need to protect endangered species. But as experts have pointed out, this debate has nothing to do with the fire hydrant problem in Los Angeles, but rather the surge in demand caused by the municipal system's inability to cope with such intense fires. Climate and water scientist Peter Gleick criticized Trump's claims about the Los Angeles wildfires as misinformation.

He explained that the water supply problems in Los Angeles are due to a variety of factors. These factors include high demand for water for firefighting, damage to pipes and pumps caused by the fires, and people turning on hoses and sprinklers to protect their homes. He said: "All of these demands overwhelmed the water supply infrastructure, causing some water tanks and fire hydrants to lose pressure or run dry." "This has nothing to do with the availability of the overall water supply in Southern California, nor does it have anything to do with the state's efforts to protect endangered and threatened fish and ecosystems."

Could this happen in Australia? States vary in their water resource preparedness and storage. However, a study published in the journal Fire Safety Journal, which surveyed two communities in New South Wales affected by bushfires in 2013, found that households relied primarily on secondary water supplies for survival and firefighting. The study also found that issues related to water shortages and equipment failures affected people's survival-related decisions during bushfires. "In a geographically vast and seasonally water-scarce country like Australia, where there are competing conditions for water resources, this highlights the importance of people making trade-offs between risk, benefits and everyday needs, all of which are related to living in fire-prone areas," the report stated.