In the 1930s city leaders struggled with ways to deal with the population boom of the southland as well as the flooding in the Los Angeles River watershed that followed development. Several large rain events in the early 20th century had caused massive flooding, loss of life and property damage, necessitating a rethinking of flood control for Los Angeles and its growing populace.

Echo Park Lake is getting a multi-million dollar makeover that will dramatically reduce stormwater pollution in the area

In the early 1900’s, the school of thought and training was to engineer structures to effectively collect and quickly convey storm water runoff away from the city directly to the ocean. The rivers were deepened and paved with concrete over the years, creating a storm drain system that allowed developers to build closer to the river and flood risks were greatly diminished. This effective flood control system, unfortunately, presents Los Angeles with many pollution challenges. Today, we now understand the role natural systems perform in flood control and pollutant reduction.

That’s why the Los Angeles Stormwater Program is focused on pushing the envelope, working to ensure that we are implementing forward thinking programs as a way to tackle the city’s stormwater pollution challenges. Many of these programs seek to utilize natural approaches to storm water management and pollution reduction. In this issue of LA Stormwater you’ll read about different initiatives the City is working on that range from a multi-use stormwater project that transforms a former landfill into a park to a program that addresses urban runoff and water supplies through low impact development solutions.

Like the early leaders of LA, we continue to face many stormwater related challenges – challenges that we believe can be met by developing and implementing forward thinking ideas and programs today to make our communities, waterways and local bays cleaner and safer for the Angelenos of tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Shahram Kharaghani

City of Los Angeles Stormwater Program Manager


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