In 2006, my first year at OXY, it rained 2 days the entire school year. In just the first month of 2010, however, Los Angeles has accumulated 4.8 inches of rain, well above the average of 3.1. Typical conversation among Los Angelenos would have you believe that this rain was the Second Coming, but this is far from the truth. Largely due to the impermeability of Los Angeles's ground surfaces, a very small percentage of rainfall in Los Angeles is actually useful.
A new proposed law to go into effect in 2011 would require the use of several different methods to capture, reuse or redirect runoff from rainstorms. One of the main reasons rain water never has the chance to replenish the groundwater supply is that it lands on concrete and pavement, then rushes straight into storm drains that lead to the ocean. Not only will the new ordinance help to recycle our planet's most precious resource, it will also help to keep polluted urban water out of our increasingly acidic seas. The Board of Public Works Commissioner Paula Daniels, explained that the new requirements would "prevent over 104 million gallons of polluted urban runoff from ending up in the ocean".
In addition to encouraging the use of rain storage tanks, builders would be required to use other low-cost and sensible water management methods; these include simple measures, like diverting rainfall to gardens and permeable pavement. Any builders who are unable to manage 100% of a project's runoff on-site would be required to pay a penalty of $13 a gallon for the water that is not safely redirected.
Good idea, they already require this in parts of australia, probably in other dry climate regions as well. Do you have a link to the ordinance?
ReplyDelete