Council for Watershed Health

The Healthy Streams for Angelenos project as an important first step to make important linkages between human health, resource management, and water quality science. The goal of the Healthy Streams for Angelenos project is to provide resource managers with the information they need to accurately assess the public health risks associated with stream-based recreation when known water quality safety standards are exceeded. This information will be developed into a public awareness campaign.

Council for Watershed Health will build a dynamic, publicly accessible and scientifically valid web-based report card to show how the efforts of our cities, nonprofit organizations, agencies, businesses and academia are working together to catalyze improvements in the environment. This report card will be based on the collaborative efforts of the many agencies and organizations that are tracking specific measures but are perhaps not able to see the big picture from their individual scales. Called “The Pulse of Los Angeles,” the project will measure environmental indicators within a geographic context over time and compare where we are to where we need to go. The web portal will use maps to display the status and trends of environmental health, social equity, and economic sustainability in the region, based on already-existing and newly-developed measures. We will focus on tracking environmental quality measures, but will also uncover important connections between the eight realms: Education, Income & Employment, Housing, Health, Environmental Quality, Public Safety, Social Connectedness, and Arts & Cultural Vitality. We need to show, for example, how education impacts environmental quality and how safety is strengthened by arts and culture; in this way we can see the big picture of Los Angeles. By working together, we will demonstrate how collective impacts can make life better for all Angelenos. Working with multiple project partners and continuing on the work we’ve already started, the Council will demonstrate that “if you don’t measure it, you can’t change it!” By understanding how the region is performing and how all the work is interrelated, the paths forward will reveal themselves. As a result, Los Angeles in 2050 will be one of the most sought-after places to live, learn, do business, and retire. We are on that path, with so many strong and purposeful organizations, agencies, and individuals pushing us forward. And yet we are in danger of not achieving this LA 2050 vision if we do not work together to deliberately monitor, track, and report important indicators of the future vision. In 2050, we will accept synergy and collaboration as a normal way of getting things done and this project will help build towards that future.