Pioneering in Santa Monica
With water shortages looming and water pollution a growing concern, other communities in Los Angeles County are likewise taking steps toward water recycling and stormwater capture. The City of Santa Monica has built an urban runoff recycling facility--the first of its kind in the country--which treats between 300,000 and 500,000 gallons a day of dry-weather runoff that would otherwise empty from stormdrains into Santa Monica Bay. That's 95 percent of total dry-weather runoff, said Neal Shapiro, the City's urban runoff manager. The treated and disinfected water is reused in landscaping and also for flushing toilets and urinals. By so doing, the City offsets two to four percent of its potable water use.

In November 2006, with 67 percent of those voting in favor, the City of Santa Monica passed Measure V, a parcel tax for projects to improve the quality of its urban runoff, increase water conservation and groundwater recharge, and at the same time provide recreational and habitat benefits, on land and in the marine environment. The City depends on clean beaches; they are important to its quality of life and economic wellbeing. It also must meet state water-quality regulations and L.A. County's local runoff regulations, which have become more strict.

Among the City's other innovative projects is the Beach Green (see Green Parking at the Beach) which turns a seldom-used beachfront parking lot into a grassy recreational space while leaving the option of using it for parking when needed. Shapiro would like to see the Beach Green replicated all along the coast in parking lots behind beaches, but it's still in testing stages, has not had a winter yet, he said. "We have to see how it works and how the public likes it."

Copyright 2008 © California Coastal Conservancy All Rights Reserved