Economic Roundtable Project 2010-2011
Completed Study: "Water Use Efficiency and Jobs"

STUDY SUPPORTERS

•  City of Los Angeles, Community Development Department

•  Piping Industry Progress & Education Fund

•  International Association of Plumbing & Mechanical Officials

•  National Inspection, Testing, Certification Corporation

 

 

STUDY WORKING GROUP MEMBERS

Paula Daniels
Senior Advisor on Food Policy, Special Projects in Water, Office of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, City of Los Angeles

Mark Hanna
Associate, GeoSyntec Consultants

Caryn Mandelbaum
Freshwater Program Director, Environment Now

Nancy Steele
Executive Director, Council for Watershed Health

Cecilia Estolano
Estolano LeSar Perez Advisors LLC

Gil Crozes
Partner, Carollo Engineers

Shelley Luce
Executive Director, Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission

 

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WUE and Jobs Report CoverWater Use Efficiency and Jobs New!

Released December 2011. Public investments in water use efficiency projects stimulate economic activity that is twice as great as the initial investment. One person-year of employment is created for each $72,400 that is invested. Underwritten by the City of Los Angeles, PIPE, IAMPO and NITCC.

Download [Download]         Obtain hard-copy versions of reports [View Details]

Project Overview

The work plan outlined on this page provides reliable and practical information about the job impacts of an integrated wastewater, storm water, runoff, and recycled water program that maximizes beneficial reuse of existing water resources in the City of Los Angeles. This includes the job impacts of system components for water:

  • Capture
  • Treatment
  • Storage
  • Distribution

Issues investigated

The network of establishments that make water reuse possible – as well as the equipment manufacturers and service providers that supply them – have opportunities to grow and create jobs in Los Angeles. Important questions about this sector include:

  • What industries make up this sector?
  • Are industries in this sector growing or declining in Los Angeles?
  • What are the economic impacts of growth in this sector?
  • What supplier industries will benefit from growth in this sector?
  • What types of jobs does this sector provide?
  • How much do workers earn?
  • What types of skills are necessary to work in industries that make up this sector?
  • Can entry-level workers find job opportunities in these industries?

Additionally, a major portion of the study is devoted to analysis of 53 recent water efficiency investments made in the greater Los Angeles region. This analysis quantifies the economic and job impacts of 5 types of water efficiency investments:

  • Stormwater
  • Recycled Water
  • Groundwater Management / Remediation
  • Water Conservation
  • Graywater Systems Installation

Tasks

The Economic Roundtable has investigated the questions above by profiling the water reuse sector, producing data and preparing a report that explains our findings. The following planned research and analysis activities will enable us to do this:

  1. Identifying industries that make up the water reuse sector. This information was assembled from contractor lists and interviews with knowledgeable individuals at the Board of Public Works, Department of Public Works, and Department of Water and Power, and by reviewing reports on water reuse that have been commissioned by the City of Los Angeles.
    1. Identifying industry codes for the water reuse sector and supplier industries for this sector. Coding systems will include the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) and Bureau of Economic Analysis codes.

  2. Conducting input-output analysis to project different kinds of economic impacts of water reuse establishments to identify their impact on the Los Angeles economy.
    1. Identifying both near-term construction impacts and long-term system maintenance and operation impacts.
    2. Estimating the share of commodities purchased by each industry in the water reuse sector that are purchased from local suppliers, and also identify opportunities for producing these goods and services locally rather than importing them.
    3. Identifying supplier industries.
    4. Identifying multiplier impacts in the Los Angeles economy and estimate total impacts based on scenarios projecting the scale of new expenditures in this sector:
      1. Employment – additional near-term and long-term jobs created.
      2. ii. Output – additional near-term and long-term economic activity stimulated.
    5. Output per job – annual sales required to create one job.

  3. Identifying the current size and trends of growth and decline from 1996 to 2008 in industries that make up the water reuse sectors.
    1. Breakout trend information for the City and County of Los Angeles.
    2. Produce maps showing the geographic distribution of establishments in this sector in 2008.

  4. Analyzing the characteristics of jobs in water reuse industries to produce the following information:
    1. Occupational profiles of principal industries.*
    2. Occupational Wages.*
    3. Occupational Skill Levels (especially length of training).*
    * Pending funding from the City of Los Angeles Community Development Department.

Project Goals

Delivering a report on the job impacts of water recharge, re-use and conservation that addresses the questions outlined above and presents, analyzes and explains the information produced through the tasks detailed in this scope of work. The report includes data and narrative, and will become a public domain document upon completion. Meet with stakeholders to provide a briefing on findings from the study.

Library of Relevant Reports, Articles & Organization/Agency Links

 

 

Documents listed on this page are available for download by right-clicking on links. 
File formats are defined by the icons next to them: Adobe Acrobat PDF, MS Word file and MS Excel file.

Comments and Questions

Please send comments and questions to:

Patrick Burns
Economic Roundtable
patrickburns@economicrt.org

This is a web site of the Economic Roundtable established for supporting the work of its Institutional Review Board.