In long beach California, they have been suffering from one of the worst droughts throughout time, the winter rains finally came through to put an end to it.  This drought has left people with the question of using an intricate water system.  More than 200 billion gallons of storm water, enough to supply 1.4 million households for a year, could be captured statewide using a better system but instead, the water ends up spilling down sewers and drains and into the ocean, which was shown on Thursday in the hours after the rainfall ended, at the spot where the Los Angeles River ends here.

Engineers are now putting their focus to try to capture the storm water and put a stop to the dangers of flooding.  Over 90 people have lost their lives from floods in Southern California.  “Something that was once viewed as a nuisance is now seen as a necessity,” said Eric M. Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles.  He states “We haven’t done enough.”  The mayor stated that he wants to increase the amount of storm water captured from 8.8 billion gallons to 50 billion gallons by 2035.  The heavy January rains and snows that socked the northern part of the state have not kept pace into February.  A critical measure, the snow pack, which provides water as it melts into the spring, was at 94 percent of normal statewide this week.  Meteorologists are still pointing to the history of El Niño storms.  They say the heaviest rains could arrive later this month and in March and April.  This is very worrisome to Engineers.  Although there has been a focus on storm water for a while, now it is intensifying.  The view has changed from a problem to more of an opportunity.

The State Water Resources Control Board had earlier authorized spending 200 million on an array of projects devoted to capturing storm water.  However, officials said it would cost more than $1 billion for the kind of ambitious water collection goals set by Los Angeles, San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area.  There is still a question as to where all of this money will come from.  Nearly two-thirds of Los Angeles is paved, meaning water that might otherwise soak into the ground runs down streets, driveways and sidewalks and into sewers.  On its way, it picks up pollutants before flowing into the Los Angeles River, which cuts across 43 miles of the region before reaching the ocean.  There is still a long way to go with this issue.  The positive is that there is good that can come from this.  I think that more efforts should be put towards finding solutions as they are doing.

References:

Nagourney, Adam. “Storm Water, Long a Nuisance, May Be a Parched California’s Salvation.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 19 Feb. 2016. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.