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Science & Technology
LA to Harvest Rain off Residences
2011-01-03
Still more ways to make some people feel good by spending your money.
As Southern California's traditional water supplies diminish under a variety of pressures, all that runoff sheeting across sidewalks and roads into the maws of storm drains is finally getting some respect.

"This isn't wastewater until we waste it," said Noah Garrison, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council who co-wrote a 2009 paper on capturing and reusing storm water.
Isn't the rainfall sort of seasonal? Where will they store January's runoff until July's demand?
The report concluded that the region could increase local supplies by an amount equal to more than half of Los Angeles' annual water demand by incorporating relatively simple water-harvesting techniques in new construction and redevelopments. These include installing cisterns and designing landscaping to retain runoff and let it seep into the ground.
I wonder if that will have an effect on mudslides?
Los Angeles is poised to adopt an ordinance that takes a step in that direction. Most new and redeveloped commercial, industrial and larger apartment projects would have to be designed to capture the runoff generated by the first three-quarters of an inch of rain. New single-family homes would have to install a rain-harvesting device, such as a rain barrel or a hose that diverts water from gutters to landscaping.
More jobs! For bureaucrats.
Google "catalog rain barrel". They cost $15-$100 and require basic handiman skills to install. I'd recommend getting a small pump. Connect a standard pierced watering hose to the end of the downspout and the second requirement is taken care of. There is the inspector who'd need to be called when you're done to sign off on it, but for new construction and redevelopments the inspector would have to come out anyway. It's about time the wise men of Los Angeles started acting like they ruled over a desert area -- cisterns go back millenia, and pierced hoses for over a century.
But the proposed rules would save only a fraction of the city's runoff. "If we're able to convince people to do it on their own, there's so much more" that can be captured, said Los Angeles Public Works Commissioner Paula Daniels. "The really important thing to do is unpave and change the texture of Los Angeles."
Like 1848. That was a good year for California, before the gold rush ruined it.
Pooh. Replace the concrete with pierced concrete blocks, and plant groundcovers in the soil filling the holes. In Germany they do driveways in the stuff. Of course, that would cost a medium sized fortune, and California has been functionally bankrupt for a while, but the project is do-able without going back to dirt roads. And, of course, it would ruin the surface for skate boarding.
Posted by:Bobby

#10  Trouble is, some local governments are claiming rainfall in the jurisdiction that fell on your house is public water

Some local governments are doo-doo heads. Clearly they're desperate to find additional sources of funding that require no up-front investment on their part.
Posted by: trailing wife   2011-01-04 00:01  

#9  nothing wrong (and most things right) with home rainwater detention. Trouble is, some local governments are claiming rainfall in the jurisdiction that fell on your house is public water and should either be turned over or subject to a tax. Nice way to screw you coming and going when you try to do the right thing
Posted by: Frank G   2011-01-03 22:10  

#8  Bermuda does it. Been doing it for years. It actually works out pretty well.

A unique feature of Bermuda roofs has been their role in water supply. Until the 1930s, rain water provided the only source of potable water. Water was collected on roofs, where wedge-shaped limestone "glides" were laid to form sloping gutters on the roof surface, diverting rain water into vertical leaders and thence into storage tanks.

Early storage tanks were rum puncheons or cisterns made of cedar. Others were formed by excavation into rock and made tight with mortar. Prior to the 20th century, tanks were located at the outside rear of dwellings, partly or entirely above ground. Water was removed from tanks by bucket or hand pump and carried indoors. In some later systems, hand pumps transferred water to elevated indoor storage tanks. Current systems include storage tanks under buildings with electric pumps and pneumatic tanks.
Posted by: tu3031   2011-01-03 21:03  

#7  (on soap box, and very prolix today)

Elephants can be as stupid as donkeys sometimes, especially in Calif. All of Calif. is oink-headed about water use, no matter what political party they belong to. The golf courses of Palm Springs are an obscenity. In June, temp is 115 degrees and my cousin is watering her lawn from sprinklers 24/7. You can imagine how much the 25 golf courses guzzle. Xeriscaping, anyone?

Damming the Colorado River has reduced it to a trickle at its mouth, and is screwing up the ecology of the entire lower Colorado and the Gulf of California.

TW's observations are useful, as usual. The suburbs in Switzerland use the pierced concrete blocks too. Looks a bit shabby sometimes but it works.

Posted by: mom   2011-01-03 18:59  

#6  DRUDGEREPORT has an Artic that claims that up to 50 artificial rainstorms were created by NT in ABU DHABI.

INDIRETCLY, IMO another indicator that the Perts expect GLOBAL WARMING = SOLAR ACTIVITY TO INTENSIFY come "2012" + during this new decade.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2011-01-03 18:48  

#5  unintended irony: rain water supported by Noah.....
Posted by: USN, Ret.   2011-01-03 14:04  

#4  Hyper-expensive 3rd world solutions to a faltering 1st world economy breaking down because no one in public policy positions for the last 40 years has increased the water storage system in California. Same for the agricultural catastrophy of the central valley, now a dustbowl-like mosaic of unemployment and poverty like that of central America. This is Democrat leadership at its finest folks.......
Posted by: NoMoreBS   2011-01-03 11:28  

#3  According to geologists, California frequently (relatively speaking) gets droughts that last for hundreds of years.

The most practical long term solution is to set up an offshore desalinization submersible, that uses water pressure and a series of filters, eventually a nanotube filter, to produce fresh water that is then electrically pumped to shore. The brine is returned to the ocean, so it doesn't mess up the salinity for the critters.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2011-01-03 10:43  

#2  Our city council (in typical Democratic fashion) should stop tackling our most pressing problems and simply issue a decree that from now on all rain must fall uphill.

Actually after 2 wet years in a row, our reservoirs are at 160% of normal, and the snowpack in the Sierras is over 20 ft.
And we're barely into January.

But our city fathers (who always seem to know what's best for us) still tell us we're in a drought.
I guess they have failed to study past weather patterns that show a rough balance between the wet & dry years. Ebb & flow as it were.

Actually LA is one of the least dense large cities in the world.
LA City (by itself) covers about 500 square miles, with a population of about 3.5 million.
Posted by: Mikey Hunt   2011-01-03 10:16  

#1  As Southern California's traditional water supplies diminish under a variety of pressures,...

Nature's invisible hand saying 'You got too many people in one place'.
Posted by: P2kontheroad   2011-01-03 08:20  

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