Posts tagged Waterways
Generation Earth Is Bettering A Watershed Near You!
Jan 27th
Clean water is a team effort and Generation Earth is helping the LA Stormwater Program’s efforts in educating our City by providing kids and teachers with the opportunity to become engaged in their local communities and schools.
Generation Earth, an environmental education program of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, organizes Water Pollution Prevention Workshops in different areas of the City. These free events aim to help participants understand the dynamics of our urban watersheds.
Through localized restoration projects, teachers and students may install rain barrels, participate in a river cleanup or pick up trash along a streambed. All in all, the program is a direct way to allow people to become directly engaged and improve the health of their watersheds.
On February 11, TreePeople, which organizes Generation Earth’s projects, will be holding a Water Pollution Prevention Workshop in Beverly Hills. The half-day event is open to teachers, students and non-formal educators who are interested in organizing an event in their community.
For more information about Generation Earth’s February outing, or another Water Pollution Prevention Workshop to be held in Norwalk on March 3, please contact Loyda Ramos at 310-623-4856 or lramos@treepeople.org.
*Photo courtesy of Generation Earth.
Celebrating the Ballona Creek Watershed
Dec 27th
If you have lived in the Los Angeles area for any amount of time, or are just a fan of ecological gems in the area, than you have likely heard of Ballona Creek and its important watershed that surrounds it. The creek may not have the same reputation as the LA River, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a crucial part of our local environment.
So why is this particular watershed so vital? For one, it feeds the Ballona Wetlands, which spans 600 acres and is a stopover for migratory birds as well as rare native plants like the yellow pincushion (chaenactis glabriuscula).
Ballona Creek itself runs almost 9 miles in length and the watershed totals 130 square miles. Friends of Ballona Wetlands and others have been working hard to protect this vital section of biological diversity in our city. Some great Clean Water folks living in the watershed are celebrating water by collecting it and putting it to reuse. To check out some cool rain gardens in the Ballona Creek Watershed, take a look at these.
Do you happen to live near the Ballona Creek Watershed? If you reside near downtown or west to the Pacific Ocean, you’re likely to be right in More >
Bicycle The LA River: A Photo Guide To Your Next Adventure
Oct 24th
The LA River is an integral part of our City. It’s one of our lifelines of sorts as it reduces flooding and carries runoff to the ocean. Yet, most of us have never actually seen the river other than driving over it on an overpass. That can now change, as a bikeway follows the majority of the river from Griffith Park to its outlet in Long Beach. Don’t believe us? Check out the cool photos and little factoids below and make the Los Angeles River Bikeway your next adventure!
Los Angeles River Bikeway on Prezi
Make Your Garden Ocean Friendly – A Chat with Surfrider Foundation’s Paul Herzog
Aug 4th
Paul Herzog works for Surfrider Foundation and is the National Coordinator for their Ocean Friendly Garden Program. The LA Stormwater Program recently caught up with Paul to discuss the program he oversees and glean a little insight on how to make our yards and gardens friendlier to our waterways.
LA Stormwater: Hi Paul! Can you explain how exactly runoff from gardens impact local water quality?
Paul Herzog: Runoff is the number one source of pollution in our local creeks, rivers and oceans. Water running off landscapes from sprinkler overspray or rain gutters directed to the driveway gets into the street gutters and is carried to ocean. It takes with it landscape chemicals and fertilizers, pollutants from car exhaust and oil, dog poop and other stuff. People that swim in these waters may get sick. We’re told that we are supposed to stay out of the ocean for 72 hours after a storm – but that’s often the best time to surf. This can affect the economy. If the ocean near where we live or where people want to vacation is thought to be polluted, many may simply stay away. People may also decide not to eat locally-caught fish.
Maintaining an Ocean Friendly Garden at home, work More >
Top Ten Water Pollution Facts
May 26th
Below are a few water pollution facts that all clean water lovers should know (and share with their friends)!
#1: When it rains water runs directly into L.A.’s storm drains where the water flows into our local waterways and then the ocean. This stormwater is much different than sewer water, as it is not connected to a treatment facility before entering our ocean.
#2: Small amounts of contaminants like pesticides and herbicides on our grasses and in our gardens can end up causing water pollution. When it rains, or when you run your hose, the water can carry these pollutants into the street where it enters the stormwater system.
#3: Excess lawn grass and yard waste after mowing or trimming can put unwanted fertilizer in our streams. This waste can cause pollution problems where it is discharged by using up oxygen in the water, which can then kill fish and other plants.
#4: Soil runoff can cause water pollution. Erosion from landscaping or dirt piles can run into the storm drain system which can greatly impact water quality.
#5: Rain barrels that are connected to downspouts can greatly reduce the amount of runoff from our properties that could contribute to stormwater pollution. These barrels catch the water before it has a More >
Find the Stream in your Neighborhood
Feb 1st
by Joe Linton
People often ask me what they can do to get involved in helping out Los Angeles’ rivers and creeks. Many ways to get involved have been covered here at the L.A. Stormwater Blog – some easy, some more involved. These include: using reusable grocery bags, tending to your pet’s poop, participating in clean-up events, harvesting rainwater, planting a creek-friendly landscape in your yard and working to green your street. Some other ways that Jessica Hall and I have written about at our blog L.A. Creek Freak include: riding your bicycle, re-using greywater, and protecting our more natural streams.
One project that we creek freaks strongly recommend is researching and visiting your local creek.
Many people ask Lewis MacAdams, founder of the Friends of the Los Angeles River, how they can get involved. His response is generally along the lines of “go down to the river and walk along it and listen.” I think that this is excellent advice; seeing the Los Angeles River and making a visceral connection with it is an important step in working toward its health.
Not everyone reading this article lives near the L.A. River, though. If you’re in the city of Los Angeles, you may live nearer More >
A Forgotten Creek Will Lead the Way
Oct 25th
For nearly half a century, the North Atwater Creek has been all but forgotten. Set in the Glendale-Narrows portion of the Los Angeles River, this natural creek has become overgrown with non-native grasses and invasive exotic species such as the Mediterranean Castor oil plant. A man-made creek, the soil in its unstable banks is contaminated from decades of toxic runoff draining from an urban area. For decades, this polluted water has collected in stagnant pools at the base of the creek before being discharged into the LA River through four massive graffiti-ridden culverts. Not exactly the image of a creek that will lead the Los Angeles River revitalization effort – or is it?
As the lead project for the City of Los Angeles’ proposed Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan, the restoration of North Atwater Creek and expansion of North Atwater Park perfectly embodies the objectives of Los Angeles’ renewal of the river and is a microcosm of what the City hopes to achieve up and down the LA River’s 51 miles in years to come. Funded in part by Proposition 50 and undertaken in connection with the settlement of two Clean Water Act enforcement actions (Santa Monica Baykeeper v. City More >
L.A. River to Receive Protections under the Clean Water Act
Jul 9th
A big change occurred in how the Federal government views the L.A. River. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson visited Southern California and announced that the river would be designated as ‘traditional navigable waters’. That may not mean much on its surface, but it certainly means a lot for those that want to see the river repaired.
“We’re moving away from the concrete,” Jackson told more than 200 residents and government officials as she stood next to Compton Creek, one of the LA River’s main tributaries, and one that has been marred by chronic pollution. “We want the L.A. River to demonstrate how urban waterways across the country can serve as assets in building stronger neighborhoods, attracting new businesses and creating new jobs.”
Check out when Lisa Jackson announced the great news (footage courtesy of Creek Freak’s Joe Linton).
With the ‘navigable’ designation, the L.A. River will now receive protections under the Clean Water Act, which the community hopes will be a step toward cleaning up the watershed. Ultimately the goal will be to make the river safe for humans and for wildlife.
The Los Angeles Times explained its significance:
“Protection under the Clean Water Act sets the stage for a multitude of ambitious plans, including removing the More >
Taking the Boo out of Bacteria
Oct 29th
You can’t see it but it’s there, hiding out, just waiting for you in the storm drain. It’s not a ghost or a scary monster, although it is certainly frightening.
It’s bacteria.
Unlike other stormwater pollutants such as oil and litter, bacteria cannot be seen with the naked eye. While most environmental microorganisms are part of a natural healthy ecosystem, there is a small percentage of them, found in dog waste and bird droppings, that threaten the health of our environment. And, because animal waste is, unfortunately, prevalent in our cityscape and can be easily broken down by rain and picked up by excess water flowing off of yards, bacteria are often found lurking in our rivers, creeks and lakes. When these harmful microorganisms find their way to our coastline, authorities are forced to close beaches.
As you may know, we have two water drainage systems in Los Angeles, one for wastewater (sanitary sewage system) and one for stormwater (regional storm drain system). Wastewater from our homes (showers, sinks, toilets, etc.) is treated before it is released back into the environment. Harmful bacteria are removed in the process. However, this is not the case with stormwater, which travels untreated through our regional waterways More >
Wicked Wildfires with Wet Weather…Watershed Woes
Oct 29th
Wicked wildfires and frightful floods are a natural and challenging part of the ecological cycle here in California. Fire is essential in Mediterranean ecosystems with certain species of native plants needing fire to guarantee their existence. All too often, however, these fires take place in the fall when the flames are fanned by fierce Santa Ana winds that hauntingly howl through our canyons. These fires leave behind ashy moonscapes and barren areas of land devoid of vegetation. It is these desolate landscapes onto which winter’s first raindrops fall, and while rain is always welcomed here in Southern California, vast areas without groundcover mixed with heavy rain produces a new threat – mudslides. The fact that a high percentage of Los Angeles neighborhoods are within the Wildland Urban Interface (or WUI) – areas where homes meet forest or wildland – California’s fire and flood cycle presents homeowners with added challenges.
The recent Station Fire vividly demonstrated the devastating impact that fire can have here in the Southland. It claimed two lives, destroyed dozens of homes and scorched a staggering 250 square miles in the foothill communities of La Canada-Flintridge, Altadena, Pasadena and Angeles National Forest. The next challenge we face with an More >
