Conquer It

Now reread the “Other Cities, Other Approaches” section of the Newsela article “California tries one solution to water problems – treating seawater.”opens in new window


Other Cities, Other Approaches

Some cities in California are taking an entirely different approach to the water crisis.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced last month an aggressive program to expand water conservation. He also ordered the city to cut its use of imported water in half by 2024. He named almost every possible option to reach that goal, including storm-water capture, water recycling, groundwater treatment and even new storage facilities. Desalination was missing from the list.

“We believe in being innovative and open-minded when it comes to tackling the water crisis,” mayoral spokeswoman Marie Lloyd said. “At the same time, we do understand that desalination is quite expensive today.”

– Newselaopens in new window, December 4, 2014


Flowchart with claim at top and two arrows pointing to evidence and reasoning. Claim - Other cities, like Los Angeles, are thinking of other solutionsto the water issues in California. Evidence - Los Angeles is saving water by enforcing conservation, recycling water and using storm-water capture. Reasoning The mayor of Los Angeles said that he was going to introduce a new water conservation program. He does not agree with using desalination plants.

Use information from the “Other Cities, Other Approaches” section of the article, as well as the claim, evidence and reasoning above, to write an explanation about why California should think of other ways to create or conserve fresh water. Be sure to refer to the text for additional information that may be used to support the claim and strengthen your explanation. You must paraphrase and/or reword statements from the text as you organize ideas for an explanation written in your words.