Los Angeles Is Learning to Drink the Rain
A city built to flush stormwater to the sea is now racing to capture it — recharging aquifers and cutting reliance on imported water.
By AGUACYCLE News Room
For most of the last century, Los Angeles treated stormwater as a hazard to be channeled out to the Pacific as fast as possible. Now, facing supply limits, the city is reengineering itself to keep that water.
Spreading grounds and green streets
Through spreading grounds, infiltration basins, permeable pavement, and green infrastructure, L.A. is slowing runoff and sinking it into aquifers. The goal is to capture far more local water and lean less on supplies imported from hundreds of miles away.
Paired with the city's wastewater-recycling ambitions, stormwater capture is central to L.A.'s plan to source most of its water locally.
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