Los Angeles County Watersheds: Analyzing the Spatial Distribution of Poverty and Other Factors in Connection to Drinking Water

Pollution

Image: David McNew, Getty Images

Matthew Del Muro B.S. Environmental and Earth Science University of Southern California | 2015

Overview
Call for Water Transparency Debunking Los Angeles Water Myths GIS to Formalize Environmental Injustices

Watershed Myth
Project began to debunk common misconception of LA Water availability.
Where does Water come from? Outside Los Angeles, water is obtained from local sources.

Source: http://ca.water.usgs.gov/owens/overview.html

Collection of Data
Annual City Drinking Water Reports (2012)
Focuses on Groundwater Exclusively

Census Data (20102012)

Socioeconomic Data
Sources: Basemap: See Sources Above Los Angeles Boundary: Esri Online Software Counties Outline: Esri Online Software Cities Shapes: US by Zipcode, Esri Online Software (2013) Inset Map: Counties Outline: US Counties, Esri Online Software (2013

Collection of Data

GIS Utilization
Los Angeles County GIS Department Morans Spatial Analysis SPSS

Morans I Application
Spatial Distribution of Minority Percentages

Spatial Distribution of Poverty Percentages

Spatial Distribution of Manganese Concentrations

Spatial Distribution of Arsenic Concentrations

Spatial Distribution of Gross Alpha Emitters

SPSS ANOVA Test

One-Way Variance Test: Comparing Poverty Percentages changes to changes in other datasets Lower Sig. number expresses stronger relationship

Cities who rely on Groundwater

Groundwater vs. Imported Water as Base
GW:
85% of Population are Minority 17% of Population is under Poverty Line Average Arsenic (PPB) = 1.37 Significantly Higher in Barium and Nitrate 50% of Population are Minorities 10% of Population is under Poverty Line Average Arsenic (PPB) = .57 Significantly Higher in Aluminum

Imported

Health Issues in Communities

Maywood and East Los Angeles Arsenic throughout Los Angeles County Loss of Transparency

Health Issues in Communities

Arsenic throughout Los Angeles County Water Lack of Treatment Fracking Dangers to Groundwater Groundwater Use versus Reliance

http://watershedhealth.org/Files/document/8 44_CWHDACStudy.pdf

Contact Info
Matthew Del Muro University of Southern California matt.delmuro@gmail.com

Thank You
Los Angeles Times California Watch Report Los Angeles County GIS Center USGS GIS Department Spatial Studies Institute

Works Cited
Works: American Community Survey, Census of Population and Housing, State and County Housing Unit Estimates, County Business Patterns, Nonemployer Statistics, Economic Census, Survey of Business Owners, Building Permits, Consolidated Federal Funds Report. March 14, 2013. History of the Los Angeles River. Los Angeles County Department of Public Works. 2013. http://www.ladpw.org/wmd/watershed/LA/History.cfm. May 1, 2013 U.S. Census Bureau: State and County QuickFacts. Data derived from Population Estimates, USGS Watershed Boundary Data - http://nhd.usgs.gov/wbd.html, March 20, 2014 Water Quality Reports 2012 Cities within Los Angeles County

ArcGIS Maps Data Cited

Map Created by Matthew Del Muro, ArcGIS (2013). Fig 1.:Basemap: See Sources on Map Los Angeles Boundary: Esri Online Software Watershed Boundaries: EPA Watershed Boundary Shapefile Counties Outline: US Counties, Esri Online Software (2013) Cities Shapes: US by Zipcode, Esri Online Software (2013) Inset Map: US States: US States, Esri Online Software (2013) Fig 2 :Basemap: See Sources Above
Los Angeles Boundary: Esri Online Software Watershed Boundries: EPA Watershed Boundry Shapefile Counties Outline: US Counties, EsriOnline Software (2013) Cities Shapes: US by Zipcode, Esri Online Software (2013) Inset Map: Counties Outline: US Counties, EsriOnline Software (2013)

Fig. 3: US Census 2000 http://www.economicrt.org/graphics/LA_City_Poverty-web.jpg, 2001. USGS GIS Watershed. May 1, 2013. Fig. 4: Main Map:Basemap: See Sources Above Los Angeles Boundary: Esri Online Software Watershed Boundries: EPA Watershed Boundry Shapefile Inset Map:US States: Esri Online Software Fig 5: Main Map:Basemap: See Sources Above Los Angeles Boundary: Esri Online Software Watershed Boundries: EPA Watershed Boundry Shapefile Inset Map:US States: Esri Online Software