The rains didn’t cure L.A.’s water shortage situation — so Mayor Villaraigosa’s proposed a more drastic water saving strategy: Allowing sprinklers only 2 days a week, and punishing water wasters by raising their water rate through a tiered pricing structure.
Good green LA girl readers already have water saving strategies and xeriscaped or edible lawns already — so the proposed rules should be easy for most of us to support. After all, if L.A. residents fail to conserve water, rates will go up rather drastically for everyone because the DWP will have to buy increasingly scarce water at increasingly higher prices.
But let’s go back to the rains for a second. The L.A. Times article about this water restriction news begins thusly: “Even with the recent batch of rainstorms, the ongoing drought has grown so severe….” That sentence makes it seem like the rain helped but not enough — without pointing to the fact that the rain didn’t help us because we didn’t use it!
Because during the recent storms, L.A. eco-nonprofit Treepeople actually managed to collect 216,000 gallons of water — in a single cistern at its headquarters! In a press release sent out yesterday, Treepeople pointed out a major irony: Our city’s in dire need of more water — but the free water that falls from the sky is treated only as a flood hazard and quickly flushed out through storm drains.
Why don’t we have more of these great cisterns? It’s not for lack of trying on Treepeople’s part. The nonprofit’s now created 4 pilot projects — at 2 parks and 2 schools — that have a green infrastructure to capture and use rainwater wisely. Why haven’t these successful pilot projects been replicated throughout L.A. yet? Well, to be fair there have been small successes here and there, but it seems the business-as-usual inertia’s tough to break through. I’ll try to get more details about what the holdup is soon — and what Angelenos can do to help things along.
Meanwhile, you can harvest your own rainwater and make your home water-wise — if you own your own home, that is. Visit Treepeople’s La Kretz Urban Watershed Demonstration Garden for a cool, interactive firsthand look on how exactly you can achieve this — or check out my photo-illustrated guide to the garden’s nifty features.
Oh — and conserve water. The DWP will review Villaraigosa’s proposals on Feb. 17. If approved by both the DWP and the L.A. City Council, the conservation measures could go into effect this Spring.
Top photo by boutmuet; bottom photo by Siel
Update, 6/2/09: New water laws are in effect — and L.A. DWP is also giving financial incentives for converting to drought-resistant yards.
216000 gallons? That seems… impossible… a rough conversion indicates that would be a square container measuring roughly half a mile on all sides. Larger than many lakes. Collecting 216 gallons out of a single storm would be quite the feat, although that’s at least possible to do.
Having said that, smartly re-using rainwater is definitely something LA will have to look at. Phoenix does a lot more in terms of collecting rainwater, often using the infrastructure originally built by the Hohokam about 1,000 years ago (though obviously upgraded to modern standards)
Comment by Aaron — February 10, 2009 @ 5:56 pm
It’s amazing, but true! :) To be more specific though, Treepeople’s cistern’s not just at a building, but at a large park. Even the parking lot’s tilted to help angle water into the cistern!
So obviously, not every individual house would be able to collect near that much. That said, many city parks could!
Here’s the full press release, for people who’re interested :)
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Rescue the Rainwater
TreePeople Captures 216,000 Gallons from Recent Los Angeles Storms
WHAT
An underground cistern tank in Los Angeles captured 216,000-gallons of water from recent Los Angeles storms.
WHERE
TreePeople’s headquarters in Coldwater Canyon Park, an L.A. City park.
WHEN
Rainfall captured over the weekend’s storm topped water harvested from rains in late 2008.
WHO
TreePeople, an environmental nonprofit organization serving the Los Angeles area, unites the power of trees, people and technology to grow a sustainable future for the Los Angeles region.
WHY
Even with the recent storms, the risk of drought in Los Angeles is not over. According to the California Department of Water Resources, the water content in California’s mountain snowpack, a vital source of drinking water for the state, is at 55 percent of average for this time of year. The long-term forecast for our region is for increasing periods of dryness. At the same time, the rain that does fall is usually conveyed through storm drains out into the ocean where it creates a pollution hazard.
One Southern California nonprofit has a solution to manage stormwater runoff and alleviate drought concerns. This solution also keeps beaches clean and stimulates the economy. At TreePeople’s headquarters in Coldwater Canyon Park, a 216,000-gallon cistern is full from recent rains, delivering a cost-savings approach to the park’s irrigation needs while keeping rain-swept toxins and refuse out of storm drains leading to the ocean.
“In a city that imports more than half of its water, cisterns and other nature-mimicking technologies – such as those used in demonstration sites that TreePeople and its partners have completed in the region – could significantly impact Los Angeles,” said Andy Lipkis, TreePeople Founder and President. “This technology reduces use of potable water for irrigation, decreases our demand for imported water and turns rainwater into a valuable resource at a time of increased competition for limited supplies.”
TreePeople uses a smart, green infrastructure approach to water management. This technology has been applied locally to two parks (Coldwater Canyon Park and Sun Valley Park), two schools (Open Charter Elementary School and Broadous Elementary School) and one single-family dwelling. TreePeople also helped develop the Sun Valley Watershed Management Plan with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works. The effort is the first large-scale Los Angeles application of this smart, green approach and is already resulting in a network of “natural” infrastructure that captures and utilizes rainwater instead of polluting and squandering it.
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Comment by Siel — February 10, 2009 @ 6:07 pm
Ah, that starts to make sense, thank you. Although that’s quite the infrastructure, wonder how they got the OK to do that.
Comment by Aaron — February 10, 2009 @ 7:50 pm
Very Impressive!! Perhaps DWP could contract TreePeople to help them develop cisterns at different points around the county for use in parks/schools/public areas that are watered.
Why is it that schools can put solar panels on their schools and a non-profit organization can build water cisterns that can hold 200K gallons, yet DWP, our city-run utility cannot find the ways to do this themselves.
Amazing! Don’t trust them with Measure B. Please vote NO. Has not been truly studied and would open the door for the City to start charging mucho dinero for energy, under the guise of a ‘green initiative.’
I want solar power, but not at their-yet-unknown rates.
Comment by Janet Harold — February 10, 2009 @ 9:46 pm
This is why we’ve installed rain barrels at our house. If water’s just going to fall from the sky, it makes sense to save as much of it as we can for later.
Comment by KateNonymous — February 11, 2009 @ 8:20 am
saw this at a design website and thought of your post:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/green-ideas/cista-urban-rainwater-collection-by-torontos-moss-sund-and-fig-forty-076452
Comment by mb — February 13, 2009 @ 10:38 am