LA projects: Turning the city runoff into clean water

Malibu is not the only charm Los Angeles has on me. Nailing two issues at once—shortage in drinking water and making runoff drinkable—with a new rule, the county rethinks the way it deals with rainwater. Brilliant.

Image Source: malibudreamhouse.com

A little back story is in order.

LA surfers know too well to say no even as the breakwater beckons after a storm, whose runoff snakes through smaller waterways and then into the Pacific Ocean—soda cans, plastic bottles, oil from cars, pesticides, heavy metals, animal waste, and all.

Image Source: surfline.com

If anyone has considered an LA oceanfront paradise, then paradise must be biohazard. But even with some of its beaches’ placement on the list of the top 10 filthiest in California, all the cases of diarrhea, fever, and pinkeye do not diminish the value of the area for me. Especially now that it pioneers among SoCal the implementation of projects that store and filter rainwater underground. Especially, too, that the projects also target turning the storm water into clean drinking water, before it even drags filth from the city through waterways. Less pollution for less parched surfers.

Image Source: pyroinnovations.com

The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board is rewarding cities that collaborate for the realization of such projects with strong incentives. Which is fine by its tourism. I’ll be in Malibu this summer.

An environmentalist, a staunch cycling advocate, and an asthmatic kid once, Stephen Salony concerns himself with water quality stories when he is not cycling. He tweets here, pins stuff here from time to time, and lurks here.