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Started By
Message
'Sponge' infrastructure in Los Angeles captures 8.6B of water from atmospheric rivers
Posted on 2/19/24 at 2:39 pm
Posted on 2/19/24 at 2:39 pm
quote:
Earlier this month, the future fell on Los Angeles. A long band of moisture in the sky, known as an atmospheric river, dumped 9 inches of rain on the city over three days—over half of what the city typically gets in a year. It’s the kind of extreme rainfall that’ll get ever more extreme as the planet warms.
The city’s water managers, though, were ready and waiting. Like other urban areas around the world, in recent years LA has been transforming into a “sponge city,” replacing impermeable surfaces, like concrete, with permeable ones, like dirt and plants. It has also built out “spreading grounds,” where water accumulates and soaks into the earth.
With traditional dams and all that newfangled spongy infrastructure, between February 4 and 7 the metropolis captured 8.6 billion gallons of stormwater, enough to provide water to 106,000 households for a year. For the rainy season in total, LA has accumulated 14.7 billion gallons.
To exploit all that free water falling from the sky, the LADWP has carved out big patches of brown in the concrete jungle. Stormwater is piped into these spreading grounds and accumulates in dirt basins. That allows it to slowly soak into the underlying aquifer, which acts as a sort of natural underground tank that can hold 28 billion gallons of water.
During a storm, the city is also gathering water in dams, some of which it diverts into the spreading grounds. “After the storm comes by, and it's a bright sunny day, you’ll still see water being released into a channel and diverted into the spreading grounds,” says Castro. That way, water moves from a reservoir where it’s exposed to sunlight and evaporation, into an aquifer where it’s banked safely underground.
Wired
Posted on 2/19/24 at 2:47 pm to euphemus
quote:
It’s the kind of extreme rainfall that’ll get ever more extreme as the planet warms.
For frick sakes. When I was growing up we worried about running out of water. Now we are worried about too much. What a load of shite.
Posted on 2/19/24 at 2:50 pm to euphemus
quote:
dumped 9 inches of rain on the city over three days
Amateurs
Also, who knew creating a concrete river to the ocean was a bad thing?
Posted on 2/19/24 at 2:56 pm to euphemus
Yeah, I've always wanted my drinking water to be filtered through 12 ft of polluted L.A. strata.
Posted on 2/19/24 at 3:01 pm to Aguga
quote:
For frick sakes. When I was growing up we worried about running out of water. Now we are worried about too much. What a load of shite.
It’s almost like weather extremes of any kind: hot/cold, wet/dry, etc, especially all at once, are less than ideal… weird…
Posted on 2/19/24 at 3:07 pm to Joshjrn
quote:
weather extremes
Not everything can just be average or the same every time.
Posted on 2/19/24 at 3:09 pm to euphemus
If Louisiana had a Water Resource plan we would be the Saudi Arabia of clean water. We do have a “water campus” with resume class bureaucracies creating word salads. But, we don’t have a plan for our greatest natural resource.
Posted on 2/19/24 at 3:11 pm to euphemus
quote:
captured 8.6 billion gallons of stormwater, enough to provide water to 106,000 households for a year
quote:
underlying aquifer, which acts as a sort of natural underground tank that can hold 28 billion gallons of water
So the aquifer can hold enough water for 350,000 households; and they have how many households in L.A.? Nice effort but seems to be way short on their need.
Posted on 2/19/24 at 3:15 pm to Aguga
quote:
Not everything can just be average or the same every time.
Duh.
I appreciate that the left pitches every weather event as this week’s sign of the apocalypse, but the right pretending every extreme event either doesn’t exist or is perfectly fine is equally as ridiculous. To use Baton Rouge as an example: do droughts, freezes, and heavy rains happen? Of course. But the drought this summer sucked. The deep freezes the last few years have sucked. The massive flooding in 2016 sucked. In short, weather extremes, as defined relatively speaking for each locale, generally suck.
Posted on 2/19/24 at 3:18 pm to glassart
quote:
If Louisiana had a Water Resource plan we would be the Saudi Arabia of clean water.
Minnesota, easily
Posted on 2/19/24 at 3:21 pm to euphemus
Unpossible! I've been assured that the people of California are too stupid to do something like this.
This post was edited on 2/19/24 at 4:53 pm
Posted on 2/19/24 at 3:23 pm to upgrayedd
quote:
Yeah, I've always wanted my drinking water to be filtered through 12 ft of polluted L.A. strata
Some of you motherfrickers are impossible.
Posted on 2/19/24 at 3:24 pm to Aguga
quote:
Not everything can just be average or the same every time.
My wife begs to differ
Posted on 2/19/24 at 3:27 pm to euphemus
Stop being pussies, world won’t flood again.
Enjoy the water.
Enjoy the water.
Posted on 2/19/24 at 3:29 pm to jizzle6609
quote:
Stop being pussies, world won’t flood again.
Enjoy the water.
I don't think you read, well......anything to do with the OP.
Posted on 2/19/24 at 3:44 pm to glassart
quote:
We do have a “water campus” with resume class bureaucracies creating word salads.
Sir, this is a Wendy’s
Posted on 2/19/24 at 4:04 pm to jizzle6609
quote:
Stop being pussies, world won’t flood again. Enjoy the water.
I wish this were satire.
Posted on 2/19/24 at 4:06 pm to LegendInMyMind
Agreed.
Got to LA made an assumption and went with it. Don’t care
Got to LA made an assumption and went with it. Don’t care
Posted on 2/19/24 at 4:20 pm to euphemus
I've always been obsessed with "sponge" infrastructure. Could something like this work here? I know New Orleans had a similar plan for this but it pretty much hit a brick wall after Teedy got elected.
Posted on 2/19/24 at 4:29 pm to euphemus
quote:
That allows it to slowly soak into the underlying aquifer, which acts as a sort of natural underground tank that can hold 28 billion gallons of water.
Always thought that aquifers had to be charged at ‘headwaters’ at elevation where it can flow and recharge. Just soaking into the dirt =\= recharging aquifer.
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