Los Angeles learns to catch its own runoff: the city's biggest dry-weather clean-water project is now running

Rain is rare in Los Angeles, but polluted dry-weather runoff — the trickle from sprinklers, wash water and city streets — flows to the sea all year. On October 15, city officials and nine partner agencies cut the ribbon on the Ballona Creek project, the first completed under the voter-backed Safe Clean Water Program and the largest dry-weather diversion and treatment effort the city has delivered. Two low-flow treatment facilities, in Culver City beside Ballona Creek and beside the Sepulveda Channel, can capture runoff from about 70,000 acres — some 85% of the Ballona Creek watershed. Up to 23 million gallons a day of that flow is diverted to the Hyperion plant for future water recycling, while another 7.3 million gallons a day is treated with ozone and returned to the creek, protecting the estuary and Santa Monica Bay beyond it. 'By capturing and treating polluted runoff before it reaches the creek and Santa Monica Bay, we are improving water quality, protecting public health, and creating a new source of water for recycling,' said Councilwoman Traci Park.

SDG 6 · Clean water and sanitation — Mechanism: infrastructure build