Wholly H2o - California's Integrated Water Reuse Management Center

Ah ha!  I knew it would happen.  Low Impact Development strategies are starting to become a standard approach to stormwater management.  Los Angeles is jumping on the bandwagon of maximum infiltration for maximum groundwater recharge and natural filtration.  Go L.A.!!! (their standardized plans are available online. (Thanks to Brock Dolman of OAEC's Water Institute for passing this along.)

Got Storm Water? L.A. Now Has Standardized Plans for Runoff Infiltration
L.A. Times-6/30/10
By Susan Carpenter

During the rainy season, the city of L.A. sends 100 million gallons of untreated runoff into the Pacific Ocean.

Tuesday, the city's engineering department signed off on six standard plans that can be used to prevent some of the flow coming from parkways, highways, alleyways and cemented curb areas and divert it into the ground where it can recharge groundwater and prevent pollutants from reaching waterways.

The plans give specific guidelines for installing swales, vegetation, permeable pavement and other systems to prevent storm water from flowing over nonporous surfaces into storm drains.

"What we're trying to do here is take storm water or urban runoff and infiltrate it in streets or alleys and make it consistent so that people aren't frustrated with trying to do something innovative,"
said Gary Moore, engineer for the city of L.A. "We've developed standard plans, we've done the details, we've done the engineering to enable the city or a developer to use the plans to implement the desired solution."

Developed in partnership with the city's Board of Public Works, Bureau of Sanitation and Bureau of Engineering, the standard plans have been in the works for six months and will be available for free online starting July 9 at http://www.eng.lacity.org.

"There are more than 6,500 miles of streets in Los Angeles," Moore said of the plans that will be used for street reconstruction, street widening, landscape medians and other projects. "There's a lot of potential."

The more you track water data, the more you can understand how water is being extracrted, used and disposed of.  Are you ready to get your next report card?

Join the California Water Quality Monitoring Collaboration Network and UC Davis
Department of Environmental Science and Policy’s Fraser Shilling from your own
workspace for a 1-hour Webinar session “Developing a California Whole System Report
Card”. The webinar will be on Thursday, July 22, 2010 from 11:30 AM -12:30 PM.

Reducing impervious surfaces may seem like an obvious strategy to those who understand hydrology and the need for increased infiltration into ground water supplies, but the need for education, date collection and information management about storm water is still great.  Here's a webinar to help you sort through stormwater management solutions.

You may have noticed the demonstration projects in our Resource section. We believe that seeing how projects are implemented greatly enhances your own application of water saving strategies. OUr partner, EPA/WaterSense is looking for images to add to their site displaying your excellent water saving landscapes.

Call for Submissions: WaterSense Landscape Photo Gallery

Have you, your colleagues or customers created a beautiful, water-efficient landscape? If so, take advantage of this great opportunity to showcase the landscape in the upcoming WaterSense Landscape Photo Gallery.

WaterSense will display photographs of water-efficient landscapes from across the country to give homeowners water-saving design ideas. Photographs of landscapes meeting basic water-efficiency criteria will be displayed along with the name of the designer, submitting organization, or homeowner. Submissions by homeowners, landscaping companies, nonprofit organizations, municipalities, and more are encouraged so please feel free to forward this announcement to other interested parties!

Take advantage of this great opportunity to exhibit your skills in water-efficient landscape design and demonstrate that landscapes can be both beautiful AND water-efficient. Visit the Call for Landscape Photos page on the WaterSense website for complete submission instructions.

In addition to submitting a photo, please be sure to complete the online submission form and our water budget tool to provide helpful details about the water-efficient aspects of your landscape. All photographs must be received by September 30, 2010, for the gallery launch. Pictures should be submitted as .jpg images no smaller than 100KB and no larger than 1 MB. Please be sure to include your name or the name of your organization with your submission.

Feel free to contact the WaterSense Helpline at (866) 987-7367 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with any questions.

Regards,

EPA's WaterSense Team

Wouldn't it be great if we didn't have to pass laws in order for us to make logicial, smart choices about how to best yuse and maintain our resources? Well, in lieu of that approach, the Senate has been stepping up to the plate with a host of water restoration bills to legislate responsible oversight of our estuaries, rivers and streasm.  Hey, look, a San Francisco Bay Restoration Act is included.

Senate Moves Forward to Restore America's Great Waters:Committee Approves Series of Bills to Restore Water Ecosystems that Protect People, Wildlife, and the Economy

There are certainly many pieces to California's history of water. One very important piece includes the fate of the Owens Lake region of the eastern Sierras, from which the city of Los Angeles has drawn a portion of its water supply for nearly 90 years. 

Did you miss the June 10th DWR meeting, Applying Sustainability Concepts and Indicators to CA Water Plan Update 2013?  Noever fear, the DWR, recorded the session. and I want to share the following WebEx recording with you. Click the link below to play the Webex recording:
https://dwr.webex.com/dwr/ldr.php?AT=pb&SP=MC&rID=5289687&rKey=67dce13bdb1872d8

This job site, My Water Plants Jobs, for those seeking employment in the area of wastewater treatment just came across my screen.  A quick peruse showed numerous jobs in CA.  Check it out!

http://www.mywaterplantjobs.com/

Since the new CA graywater code has been adopted, many cities are trying to get a handle on what are the most appropriate guidelines for graywater sites in their geographic areas. Pilot projects are providing a way to understand the ins and outs of installing  systems, as well as a means to start generating data on systems and water use. Greywater Action and the SFPUC (Public Utilties Commission) are seeking an appropriate pilot project site.  Bonus points if it can be a high profile project site!

Site needed for a permitted greywater system in San Francisco
The SFPUC is developing a graywater guidance document to provide education
about legal graywater reuse. We hope to include an example project and
permit in the document and are in need of an appropriate site. If you are
interested in having a greywater system  from your shower or bathtub AND
meet the ALL OF the following requirements, please reply to the email
below.

The San Francisco Public Utiltiies Commission (SFPUC) has been making headway in promoting and implementing Low Impact Development strategies in the city, particularly featuring infiltration, rainwater capture and water reuse. Here are a few job postings at the SFPUC.

Illustrator And Art Designer - http://www.jobaps.com/sf/sup/BulPreview.asp?R1=PBT&R2=5320&R3=056417

Coordinator Of Citizen Involvement - http://www.jobaps.com/sf/sup/BulPreview.asp?R1=PBT&R2=5408&R3=056421