Leading by example
A new law in Los Angeles makes it compulsory for owners of new and renovated structures in southern California to initiate rainwater harvesting methods. They are, specifically, required to keep water out of stormwater drains. These rules, which apply to hillside houses and development projects, are resulting in massive construction of rainwater harvesting structures to trap the rain.
Some residents are angered at the prospect of having to handle these matters. They believe the city council should handle the problem by building holding ponds that can meet the total needs of several properties. If approved by the Los Angeles water quality control board (lwqb), a person possessing an acre of paved property will have to figure out what to do with 27,000 gallons of rainwater runoff. Residents say that the construction of detention ponds could end up costing US $8,000 per unit. An lwqb official, however, says that these ponds will only add about one per cent to the total construction cost.
In contrast to this obstruction by the community,there are cases where individual households in LosAngeles make arrangements for rainwater to percolateto the groundwater aquifer. One such case is a 69-acreland, Village Homes, where narrow streets, gradedland, channels and ponds encourage the soil to absorbrainwater. The rainwater harvesting system costsUS $700
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