Water Infrastructure for Firefighting Back in the Spotlight, A Window of Policy Opportunity

The Issues, Policy Perspectives, and a Panel Discussion

The recent wildfire disaster in Los Angeles has restarted the conversation around adequate water infrastructure for firefighting – or, rather, the lack thereof – in communities across the country, especially in rural and wildland-urban interface (WUI) communities.

This could provide an opportunity to finally close a donut hole that currently exists in federal programs funding community water infrastructure and those that support fire service. That policy hole precludes local governments – including more than 10,000 special districts providing fire protection and water utilities services – from taking meaningful steps to invest in water resources for firefighting due to funding constraints.

Before diving into this article – join us for a special panel and policy discussion on April 10, featuring policy experts

AASD and the National Association of Emergency & Fire Officials Present:

Panel & Policy Discussion: Addressing Water Infrastructure for Firefighting on the Ground and in Policy

The Federal Water-For-Fire Infrastructure Gap

Under current federal policies, leveraging funding for the intended purpose of fire service upgrades is expressly prohibited under major federal water infrastructure programs such as the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, which offers financing for water system facility upgrades with supplemental state funds. Furthermore, federal fire service programs like the Assistance to Firefighter Grant program have overall programmatic limitations preventing rural and WUI fire districts from robustly pursuing vehicle upgrades, such as water tenders (further compounded by Fiscal Year 2024 cuts to program priorities).

Financial assistance is needed, especially for special districts providing services on lean budgets, to meet these challenges – at minimum in the WUI communities adjacent to federally-managed lands.

According to a study a 2022 study[**], local governments point to a lack of financial supports as a key hurdle to close gaps in adequate water infrastructure coverage for firefighting needs. This, as the estimated average cost (2022) to bring a water system up to par with what is subjectively deemed to be “adequate” for fire suppression is more than 4 times the average/surveyed annual water system revenues.

For water districts and fire districts operating on lean revenues with limited resources – the fiscal challenge to fund infrastructure can be astronomical, causing this public policy issue to be a priority, existentially so for some, among special districts serving at-risk communities.

[**Note: Contact information in the 2022 report for questions is no longer accurate. Contact Cole Arreola-Karr for information/questions: cole@karradvocacy.com and cole@naefo.org]

Beyond this, water storage, fire vehicle procurement, and intergovernmental collaboration are cited as top concerns among fire agencies to serve their end of the water-for-fire infrastructure. But the issues at play are rooted in more than just funding.

Use of Hydrants and Communications among Water Infrastructure Systems for Firefighting

Let’s be clear: the January 2025 disaster in Los Angeles, bringing this conversation off the backburner, was an extraordinary event with extreme winds and major drought conditions. Few elements would have stopped this fire, and the mass use of water put an undue burden on the infrastructure.  

But, the issue of defunct hydrants or lacking water resources, in general, has been present in major fire disasters for worse or better – from Lahaina, Hawaii, in 2023, when systems failed before the fire ran in full force, to the Caldor Fire in 2021, where the South Tahoe (Calif.) Public Utility District’s ready-for-fire infrastructure saved the Christmas Valley community.  

Ensuring hydrants are tested. serviceable, and marked for flow is a key indicator in the field is necessary. However, the physical infrastructure being in place only one piece of the puzzle – maintaining good communication among all water and fire agencies in a community is key for public safety and coordination.

In practice, many fire districts and departments serving rural and suburban communities struggle to keep up with the issues in water infrastructure (if it exists) largely due to the number of separate governments and private entities that may provide water service across a coverage area The study referenced here indicates the average rural fire district/department has about four different water agencies to keep up with. That number increases to 11 among fire agencies in suburban areas.

This drives necessity for intergovernmental collaboration among fire and water agencies to ensure robust coverage goes beyond the infrastructure and includes joint operations and plans for emergencies, such as the encroachment of wildland fires.

Insurance Considerations of Water-for-Fire Needs

Water resources and suppression infrastructure play a significant role in a community’s homeowner/property insurance premiums. This means closing infrastructure gaps can lead to major annual insurance savings among constituents.

The Insurance Services Office (ISO) is a major organization responsible for assigning insurance ratings that indicate how well-prepared a community is for fire protection and response, which insurance companies use to index annual premiums. ISO ratings are given on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the best and 10 being the worst (indicating no fire service). Water infrastructure and resources impact 40 percent of the calculation, with 50 percent based on fire department infrastructure and response, and 10 percent based on communications, with plus points awarded for mitigation activities.

This means a community could have the best fire district in the nation; but, without adequate water supply and without proper servicing and locations of hydrants, the best ISO rating the district could achieve for the community is a 5.

What would this mean for homeowners in the community… for your special district constituents?

According to Zillow, the average home value in the U.S. is about $355,000. According to Management Solutions for Emergency Services, a homeowner policy on a $350,000 can change an average of $382 per ISO point between (in communities with ISO ratings ranging from 5 to 10). This means 100 percent adequate infrastructure could save homeowners as much as $1,500 per year on insurance premiums.

Using the cited source and figures: Homeowners in a community with 500 average homes and a low ISO rating of 7 that improves water infrastructure enough to increase the ISO rating by 2 points, to a rating of 5, would save a collective $106,000 in insurance coverage.

At a time of general inflation paired with skyrocketing insurance premiums, or policy cancelations altogether – investments in water resources for firefighting can go the distance for the cost of living and quality of life for residents of their communities.

Spotlight on Water Infrastructure for Firefighting Collaboration

For special districts operating in some of the most at-risk territory on very lean resources, making sure the water-fire infrastructure is up to snuff is important. Organizations like the Tahoe Water for Fire Infrastructure Partnership is working to ensure these infrastructure upgrades are covered in programs.

The Partnership is an example of the amazing work special districts can do when they come together. In this case – Tahoe City Public Utility District (PUD), North Tahoe PUD, and South Tahoe PUD coordinate system upgrades to ensure adequate fire flow across the region and among districts, and they are working to respond to the area’s development with upgrades to outgrown water pipes. A key element of the Partnership is working to connect isolated systems to the broader systems and increase water storage capacity for more rapid resource distribution. The Partnership also advocates for funding and to close gaps that exist at the California state level in addition to the federal level, working with districts and agencies across the Lake in Nevada as well.

Advocating for Fire, Water, and WUI Districts

Bipartisan legislation to ensure municipal water infrastructure upgrades like what the Tahoe Water for Fire Infrastructure Partnership and others have pursued to improve community wildfire defense programs has been introduced.

H.R. 582 (Huffman), the Community Protection and Wildfire Resilience Act,takes a first step toward closing this gap with the inclusion of water and power infrastructure in the definition of “critical infrastructure” to protect and harden during wildfire disaster and stands to wholistically boost entire communities’ ability to mitigate against and respond to wildfire disaster.

The bill, however, limits special districts’ inclusion in community wildfire protection planning to fire districts – a critical first step to ensuring special districts are at the table for wildfire and land management programming. This means water, park and open space, and conservation districts, for example, are not included despite their importance in wildfire resilience programming. AASD is concerned that the likely-accidental exclusion could lead to districts’ hardship to be recognized as stakeholders in processes that would ultimately lead to federally-sourced funding for covered mitigation activities.

Get Involved.

There are many moving parts to this complex public policy issue impacting thousands of special districts and the communities they serve. AASD is at the table for districts, making sure their mitigation and safety needs are met for maximum community service and protection.

Do you have a water-for-fire infrastructure project, but are struggling to identify sustainable funding resources or grant opportunities to fund it? Let us know.

Share your story and your communities’ needs for adequate water infrastructure for firefighting to help us promote solutions and enhance advocacy on this issue.

Finally, consider joining and getting involved with advocacy to close these critical gaps with the American Association of Special Districts and the National Association of Emergency and Fire Officials.

Questions? Email Cole Arreola-Karr, AASD Executive Director, at contact@americasdistricts.org