Making use of all that rain…
The Los Angeles Daily News ran an opinion article today regarding storm runoff in LA. The author, Ruth Galanter, the former president of the city council argued that due to bureaucratic inefficiencies (one agency is in charge of water supply and a different agency is in charge of runoff) and a traditional belief that properties should be designed to naturally remove rainwater as quickly as possible (in order to prevent erosion and stagnant pools of water from forming), most of the recent rains that the region received flowed directly into the ocean (along with all the pollution they could pickup on their way out of town).Galanter suggests that a more efficient system of dealing with rainwater could result in both a decrease in pollution that is washed directly into the ocean, as well as a reduction in our consumption of fresh water. One method of efficient watershed management includes flood-control basins and underground cisterns that store runoff for reuse in activities such as watering lawns and parks. Another form of management includes the use of coastal marshes and wetlands to provide a natural filtration area for runoff water prior to its being released into the ocean. (Galanter sites the marsh in between Marina del Rey and Playa Vista in Los Angeles as an example.)Given the trend towards increasingly volatile and unpredictable winters in California which could leave the region increasingly susceptible to the droughts seen in the last decade, efficient watershed management seems like an exceedingly rational policy. Not to mention it should reduce the amount of garbage you will find on your next post-storm walk on the beach.
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