LA is drowning in stormwater. Here’s how much we’ve captured
Los Angeles County is on track to capture enough stormwater this year to quench the year-round water needs of more than a quarter of the county’s residents. It’s good news, but there is still a lot of work to do to meet local water use goals. [LA County’s principal stormwater engineer Sterling] Klippel says LA County gets about a third of its water from those [local] aquifers while the rest is imported either from Northern California or from the Colorado River. But the City of LA’s goal is to flip that equation by 2035, using two-thirds local water and cutting Southern California’s dependence on imported water. [Bruce Reznik, head of the nonprofit LA Waterkeeper] says the local infrastructure is just not set up for that yet.