Think Green Live Clean

Photo credit: Rashida S. Mar B.

With all the recent rain California has been experiencing, L.A.’s approval of the Low Impact Development ordinance last week seems all the more relevant at this point in time.  For those like myself who are not familiar with this idea of “LID”, it is a new approach to managing storm water and urban runoff by controlling it at the source with small, cost-effective systems vs. traditional “end-of-line” treatment facilities.  Basically, it is one way to mitigate the negative effects of both development and urbanization, while improving water quality and recharging groundwater.

The Los Angeles Department of Public Works unanimously approved the draft which will require large developments, redevelopments, and newly constructed homes to either capture, reuse, or infiltrate 100% of on-site runoff from a ¾ inch storm- or pay a pollution mitigation fee to aid in funding off-site public LID’s.  The ordinance has certainly encountered some opposition, as the Building Industry Association, for example, has been fighting the stipulation which requires a $13 fee per gallon of runoff to be paid if builders are not able to manage 100% of a project’s runoff.   There is much subjectivity that comes with each individual build site, the land, etc., which will require some form of flexibility in terms of the plans final draft, and a middle ground between the Department of Public Works and the Building industry.

The fees proposed have already been decreased by the Board at the urging of many business groups, however.  These fees are extremely important; as they fund public LID’s that, for example, retrofit thousands of feet of parkway with porous pavement, bioretension basins, and other water infiltration initiatives that have been designed to capture millions of gallons of storm water.  All in all, the new requirements in the ordinance would prevent 104 million gallons of polluted runoff from reaching the oceans.  As the LID ordinance moves up through the various levels of the City Council before reaching the final vote at the mayor level, we can only hope it gets passed and implemented as soon as possible as to not waste another rainy reason.  And hopefully, a compromise can be reached that conserves two of the most important aspects at stake from both sides-money, and of course, water.

For more information on this effort, visit the L.A. Times Environment section.