Documentary: Summer 2022

Without Water is an award-winning documentary about a unique coalition in Long Valley, CA made up of environmentalists, ranchers, Native Americans, and community groups fighting to keep the city of Los Angeles from taking their most precious resource, water.

What moral obligation does the city of Los Angeles have to keep ecosystems healthy in regions it takes resources from? The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power recently announced plans to remove water from 6,400 acres of land they own 250 miles north of Los Angeles in Long Valley, CA. This is a wetland habitat more than double the size of downtown LA. While Mayor Eric Garcetti recently announced the city’s Green New Deal to make Los Angeles one of the greenest cities in the world, an agency he oversees is quietly making policy decisions that would make other parts of California dead and brown by destroying the environment and local economies. An unlikely coalition of environmentalists, ranchers, Native Americans, and community groups have come together to fight to keep their water and keep Long Valley green.

Director: Hyla

DOP: Jessica Steiner

Funded By: Annenberg Foundation