Why LA is Becoming a SPONGE City

[AmyB]

Water reclamation is so important in drought areas it is crazy to me that it is not implemented as it should be

[ElementZephyr]

75% of California's water is used for agriculture. 15% for industrial purposes. 10% for actual people, households, and personal use. Of that 75%, 50% of it is used to water extremely water inefficient cash crops. The reason why so much water is used/goes to waste is because of California's state water policies for farming, which is a use it or lose it setup. Fix that and you fix most of California's water problems. The government, of course, doesn't want to do it because they get lobbied hard by the agriculture industry. You need to vote out the pansy spineless ones and vote in people who actually want to overhaul the system to be fair.

[kelf]

The thing Filter beds - or your "sponges" - used to be everywhere, in every town and city. They were filled from a water source, and collected rainwater as well.
The filter beds were lined with sand and/or fine gravel. That is the best natural filtration. From those beds, the water then went through their pipes and cycles to be potable again after going through the treatment plant.
I had been wondering why, over the past 40 years, they've slowly stopped using them everywhere.
In my small city, we used two lakes for our water supply. The smaller lake didn't even need a pumping station because the water flowed naturally up the hill to the filter beds. (Yes. Depending on the layout, water can flow uphill.)
Political infighting decades ago ended with them shutting down that water supply. Now we only have one lake for a city that grew... And now the modern politicians are kicking themselves for not having foresight.
My dad was the dam keeper of the smaller lake. I used to go out to the gatehouse with him and measure out the copper sulfate that got fed into a "hopper". It then was released into the lake. It helps keep algae from forming in the pipes.
Sometimes the older ways are still the best.

[CZsWorld]

"Los Angeles Aqueduct"
Uhh I think you mean the giant waterslide on the way to Six Flags?

[ambersgrace]

There used to be a lake that the Owens River fed. It was drained in 36 years by LA. Now it’s just a dust bowl. It’s very sad what has been done to the Owen’s Valley

[LessMorePERFECT]

The Nature Conservancy is actively ripping concrete out of the LA River and starting to turn it into an ACTUAL river that filters the water before going out into the ocean. they’ve actually ALREADY started at the bow tie park, turning it into a giant filtration system. things are looking great for LA in the near future! as well as land bridges all throughout!!

[mmwosu]

“Sponge City” describes LA on such an ironic level

[scoobydoo]

So you mean paving everything over with concrete and asphalt isn’t a winning strategy?

[majorlazor]

LA literally steals water from what should be the closest lake from where I live. Now it’s a Lake bed.

[chancemathews]

I live in la, la makes 15 billion a year in just property taxes, where the hell is all the money going.. they say half is going to schools… AGAIN where the hell is all this money going.

[bobholly]

New strategy to an old problem that CA lawmakers have constantly voted down whenever a new solution has been presented for better water conservation.

Water is big money, and having more of it means they can't charge those high prices for it.

[Snowcruizer]

I hope they actually do something. My fiance is from Owen's valley and LA has completely stolen the water from that land. What used to be an area full of marshes is nothing but dry desert now....

[jcorey]

So... Cisterns. But modern. This idea has been around for literally thousands of years.

I'm actually a big fan, this seems like a great idea.

[melonjuice]

bit drive around beverly hills and they have signs saying you have to keep your lawn green or youll get a fine. There are litterally streams from their sprinklers on the street.

[franbelta]

Last year CA had rain in every month, 300% increase and what did they do? Throw it out to sea while running radio adds about conserving water

[Wheninflight]

If they could follow in the steps of Sacramento by doing a sewage water reclamation project, I think that could be a good help for them. a desalination plant I think would also be a good idea to greatly increase their freshwater.

[MarkGarza-yl]

Tucson AZ., up until just a few years back got all of its water from the ground. Fed by Summer rains and routed to the dry Santa Cruz River bed . Same thing done with refuse water. Water filters down to the water table below.

[kylekavan]

There is an excellent book about the building of that aqueduct called “Water to the Angels”. The engineer that headed the project was an Irish immigrant that started as a ditch digger and is the poster child for lifelong education. The project was finished ahead of schedule and under budget.

[mfaizsyahmi]

I won't believe this until they undo the stormdrainification of the los Angeles river.

[Davo]

Los Angeles county has HUGE aquifiers with lots of water like the SFV aquifier. But companies contaminated it with chemicals in the 40s. Their is a huge 600 million dollar project happening thats is attempting to treat that water.