The watershed in your yard: the WaterLA 2018 Annual Report
February 23, 2018 § 2 Comments
Books! OK… well – Reports! Part 3, the final of my recommended reads – the practical, the lyrical and
The Celebratory (also, yes, the Nerdy): Water LA 2018 Report
WaterLA , a project spearheaded by the River Project, champions making watershed management local. Hyper local. Your front yard local. The team there combines community outreach with effective, tested permaculture and landscape design techniques to harvest and retain water in yards and street planting strips. Rain gardens, rain barrels, grey water systems and permeable paving are among the solutions used at multiple sites across LA’s Valley. WaterLA organizers locate community members ready to pitch in and engage in work parties, so that everyone’s working together – building community while building resilience.
This year’s WaterLA Annual Report, then, is a celebration of the gains to individuals, families and our water supply delivered through participation in the project. You see, all those small projects add up to groundwater enhancement, and reductions in peak runoff when it rains – dampening the effect of most floods. The Annual Report quantifies water savings and relates project costs to other, more costly, regional approaches currently in use. Native plant and permaculture folks may be excited to see the conversions of lawns to habitat and foodscapes, community-minded folks may find some inspiration in its projects, and fiscally-minded folks may be encouraged to see creative, affordable solutions to expensive regional problems. A worthy project that would benefit all if it could be applied on a larger scale.
L.A. Creek Freak 
What would be your thoughts of turning the existing concrete flood embankments into canals? Make canal locks at the ends and let them fill up. – of course making provisions for wild life like fish ladders, and spillways for run off.
A network of over 80 miles of waterways could connect all of Los Angeles basin that could be done with a relative economical budget. Only a quarter, 20.88 miles, of waterways would have to newly dug, the rest could be retro-fitted into waterways.
Phase one would be the prepping and reinforcement of existing concrete river embankment to permanently store large volumes of water, building of canal locks at the estuaries of the Dominguez Creek, Ballona Creek, as well as the San Gabriel River and Los Angeles River, to raise depth of water up stream as to allow small boat travel along the water ways will still allowing access to the sea. The Heightening or reconstruction of bridges that cross the waterway will be also take place to make the waterways navigable.
The second Phase would be the building on interconnections between preexisting channels to make an intercoastal waterway. These would consist of two projects:
The 8.19-mile Inglewood Corridor that would connect the Bellona Creek to the Dominguez Channel by roughly following the 405 South to the 105 Freeway.
The 12.68-mile Compton Corridor that would run parallel to the 105, connecting the Dominguez channel through Compton creek and Los Angle Angles River to finally terminate at the San Gabriel River.
I would much rather see these waterways restored as the southern California streams and rivers that they are, with the proviso that we found equitable solutions for adequate housing that would enable floodplains to be reestablished.