LA May Require H2O Recapture

The proposed ordinance approved in January by the Department of Public Works could go into effect by 2011 and would require such projects to capture, reuse or infiltrate 100 percent of runoff generated in a 3/4 -inch rainstorm or to pay a storm water pollution mitigation fee that would help fund off-site, low-impact public developments.

The fairly new approach to managing storm water and urban runoff is designed to mitigate the negative effects of urbanization by controlling runoff at its source with small, cost-effective natural systems instead of treatment facilities.

Reducing runoff improves water quality and recharges groundwater. The proposed law would require new homes, larger developments and some redevelopments in Los Angeles to capture and reuse runoff generated in rainstorms.

Board of Public Works Commissioner Paula Daniels, who drafted the ordinance last July, said the new requirements would prevent 104 million gallons of polluted urban runoff from ending up in the ocean. Under the ordinance, builders would be required to use rainwater storage tanks, permeable pavement, infiltration swales or curb bump-outs to manage the water where it falls. Builders unable to manage 100 percent of a project?EUR??,,????'?????< been fighting.

Some building projects, such as those in downtown L.A. or areas where the soil is high in clay, would have difficulty with the 100 percent retention rule and that the $13-a-gallon mitigation fee is too high. A one-acre building on ground where runoff could not be managed on site, Schroeder said, could pay a fee as high as $238,000.

Daniels said she hoped the ordinance would be approved in the next six months and go into effect by 2011.

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