KCET investigates L.A.'s water quality*

Recommended viewing tonight: Los Angeles' public television station, KCET 28, dives in at 8 with a look at how difficult it is to keep local waterways and the Pacific Ocean free of pollution.  The segment, "Too Poor to Go Green," on the weekly "SoCal Connected," probes the battle between water quality control officials and upstream cities that claim they don't have enough money to pay for environmental fixes. Also on the show: an "eco-skeptical" commentary by humorist Sandra Tsing Loh.

Immediately following "SoCal Connected" at 8:30 is "The American Southwest:  Are We Running Dry?,” a documentary on western water issues. 

*UPDATE: As Carol notes in the comments below, "The American Southwest: Are We Running Dry?" will be shown four more times on KCET this weekend (Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 1 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.). Read Times staff writer Tony Perry's review of the show.

Here's a preview of the local show (courtesy of KCET):       

-- Martin Beck

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[carol]

"The American Southwest: Are We Running Dry?" hosted and narrated by Jane Seymour about the water crisis, drought and water management airs on KCET-TV on the following dates.

THURDAY, October 23 8:30pm
REPEATS:
SATURDAY, October 25 7 pm
SUNDAY, October 26 1 am
SUNDAY, October 26 1:30 pm
SUNDAY, October 26 4:30 pm

Viewers learn about conservation, land use planning, how relentless drought and low precipitation have depleted water levels on vital sources throughout the western United States, such as Lake Powell, Lake Mead, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta system, the Rio Grande and the Colorado River. A web page dedicated to THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST: ARE WE RUNNING DRY? is available at http://www.runningdry.org that contains more information, downloadable photos, trailers and content.

The film was produced, written and directed by Jim Thebaut, president, The Chronicles Group, a Los Angeles based non-profit public information/education film production company whose previous project RUNNING DRY (2005) documented the global water crisis and shed light on the fact that every 15 seconds a child dies from water related disease. In this latest offering, Thebaut interviews policymakers, congressional members, water authorities, leaders in the Native American community and scientists about the looming crisis. The film makes for absorbing and contemplative discussion about conservation, water reuse, and urban growth in the United States and includes discourse about vanishing groundwater reserves, potential political battles over water resources, and how water was historically divided.

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