Report: “Gender and Everyday Household Water Use in Los Angeles” (2024)

About the Report

Los Angeles is a proving ground for urban water sustainability, but insufficient attention is paid to the social factors that shape our water use and management. Challenges for this global megacity include importing water, groundwater contamination, aging infrastructure, climate change unpredictability, and environmental justice issues such as water quality, access, and cost. Los Angeles experienced a record-setting drought between 2012 and 2016, with another between 2020 and 2023. After more than a century of population growth, Los Angeles imports most of its water from near and far, including regions with unsettled Indigenous water rights.

Scholars and policymakers agree that water issues disproportionately affect women and girls in the Global South, but too little attention has been paid to how gender shapes everyday water use in the Global North. UCLA’s Center for the Study of Women|Streisand Center and its Sustainable LA Grand Challenge sought to address this knowledge gap with the Gender and Everyday Household Water Use in Los Angeles project. Researchers employed qualitative fieldwork to examine the role of gender—as it intersects with race, class, and migration—in understanding residential water use.

Read Report

View PDF.

Research Team

“Gender and Everyday Household Water Use in Los Angeles” (2024) report written by Kelsey Kim and Jessica Cattelino

Researchers:

Jessica Cattelino, Principal Investigator

Megan Baker

Courtney Cecale

Ana Gonzalez

Kelsey Kim

Michael Kim

Dalila Ozier

Pwintphyu Nandar

Virdiana Velez