"They're absolutely at an impasse," Sarah Porter said of the upper and lower basins. "They seem to be so far apart and there doesn't seem to be any path to coming to agreement at this point."

The first panel, titled “Western U.S. Development Trends and Water-Energy Solutions,” was moderated by Kathryn Sorenson, director of research at the Kyl Center for Water Policy at the Morrison Institute for Public Policy. 

Based on modeling by ASU, the first two phases of Dude Fire restoration should send about 174 acre-feet more water in the first year toward reservoirs and supply lines, according to SRP. “Typically, you will see water benefits persist anywhere from seven to 10 years,” Barton said, citing the ASU model projections.

"Over the years, so much of that groundwater has been quote allocated, that more has been allocated than is physically available," said Kathleen Ferris, a senior research fellow at ASU's Kyl Center for Water Policy and former Department of Water Resources director. "That creates an unmet demand, in other words, it's a deficit of groundwater."

“They’re everywhere. If you use nonstick appliances, if you have Scotchgard on your couches, it’s often used in making more flame retardant materials, so frequently in your clothing,” Rhett Larson said.

“It is increasingly important to understand who is affected, how, and why — and what solutions exist for people whose water needs cannot be met by large-scale infrastructure investments alone,” Amber Wutich wrote.

Urban departments and water systems with tanks and hydrants, “are not designed for this level of wildfire,” especially trying to pump water uphill, Faith Kearns said. They’re designed to fight a single house fire or fires in a few structures, not thousands of homes during high winds.

“The new administration means uncertainty,” said Sarah Porter, the Director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at ASU “It could change the way farmers plan what they grow and decide to grow. They might have a preference for crops that can tolerate uncertainty more.”

However, the fires have also become another reason to litigate a long list of grievances with California’s decisions around water: taking down dams, not building enough reservoirs, protecting a tiny fish. It’s important to understand that these factors have little relevance to the ongoing fire response. “I think some of the conversation is so unrelated to fire hydrants in LA it’s hard to know where to start,” said Faith Kearns, a water and wildfire researcher at the Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University.

“Extreme wind conditions did not allow for a common wildland firefighting approach, which is water dropped by air,” Faith Kearns, a water and wildfire expert with the Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University, told Al Jazeera. “Helicopters, for example, were not able to fly under those conditions early on in the fires, so the demand on hydrants and other urban water infrastructure was intense.”