Blue Ribbon Commission Releases Post-Fire Climate Resiliency Recommendations
On June 20, 2025, the Blue Ribbon Commission on Climate Action and Fire Safe Recovery released a final report recommending ways to create a resilient and sustainable recovery from the 2025 LA wildfires and ensure Greater LA is better prepared for future climate disasters.
Heal the Bay’s CEO, Tracy Quinn, co-chaired on the Commission’s Water Working Group, leading the effort to design critical water protection and reliability measures that will curb climate-related water impacts and pollution and increase fire resilience in high risk communities. This includes solutions focusing on the protection of waterways and infrastructure from climate pollution, the implementation of robust water safety testing plans, the creation of climate-resilient water infrastructure, and the ways to ensure firefighters have the water they need.
The next step will be working with decision-makers at the local, state, and federal levels to implement these solutions. Details below.
The independent Blue Ribbon Commission on Climate Action and Fire Safe Recovery released a final report today outlining ways to ensure a resilient and sustainable recovery from the devastating 2025 LA wildfires and make the region better prepared for future climate disasters. The report assesses a range of recovery and preparation issues, providing important recommendations for efficient and climate-smart rebuilding, equitable recovery, and climate-resilient infrastructure.
Water safety and resilience is also a key focus of the report. Heal the Bay CEO, Tracy Quinn, served as a co-chair on the Commission’s Water Working Group, driving forward the development of critical water protection and reliability measures in the face of increased climate-related water impacts and pollution.
“Like so many, these fires forced me to learn firsthand about the recovery, remediation, and preparedness steps we, as individuals, need to take to better protect our homes and families from the impact of climate change,” said Tracy Quinn, CEO of Heal the Bay. “This report provides a broader community-wide lens, seeking to improve our building standards, address our infrastructure needs, and provide equitable funding approaches for recovery and resilience.”
“It also takes a look at how to preserve our most precious resource: water,” Quinn continued. “We need our water resources to be readily available during any crisis and we need the ability to deliver it. We need our waterways and water reserves to be protected against disaster-related toxic contamination. We need to have the tools in place to comprehensively test water safety before we drink or recreate in it after a disaster strikes. And we need to ensure our wastewater systems are built to withstand disaster – and not become part of the problem. This report outlines essential steps we need to take to keep our most precious resource abundant and safe from climate harm.”
Some of the key water quality and safety recommendations found in the report include:
- Protecting Waterways and Infrastructure from Climate-Related Pollution
- Implement erosion control measures and nature-based solutions to safeguard watersheds and water infrastructure from post-disaster sedimentation, runoff, and debris flows.
- Establish buffer zones to help protect communities, reducing potential for secondary harm to waterways.
- Implementing Robust Water Safety Testing Plans
- Update state legislation to require water systems to test for a broad array of contaminants before lifting health notices.
- Improve and implement communication protocols for post-disaster water testing results.
- Ensuring Water Infrastructure is Climate-Resilient
- Conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments of water and sewer infrastructure.
- Site new systems outside of high-risk areas.
- Ensure rebuilding along the Pacific Coast Highway properly assesses wastewater treatment and conveyance alternatives to avoid sewage overflow and leakage into the ocean.
- Ensuring Water Infrastructure Maintains Pressure for Firefighting
- Utilize low impact development (LID) stormwater capture strategies to increase water supply redundancy
- Upgrade systems to meet modern fire flow requirements.
- Test flow rates and system capacity under peak demand and emergency conditions.
Detailed Water Recommendations can be found in the Chapter entitled WATER SYSTEM RESILIENCE AND SAFETY on page 60 of the report.
The Commission was created on February 13, 2025, in the wake of the LA fires, to develop a set of policy recommendations to promote a safe, resilient recovery for Los Angeles. The Commission includes a broad cross-section of volunteer technical experts and professionals from governmental, academic, public interest, and other civic institutions. Implementation is critical to the impact of these recommendations and will require engagement with decision-makers at the local, state, and Federal levels.