The final Sepulveda Basin Vision Plan aims to transform the basin into the region's new Central Park, enhancing ecology, community access to nature, and incorporating stormwater capture and treatment.

Climate change is affecting the Colorado River, highlighting the need for local, resilient water sources such as recycled wastewater and stormwater capture.

With over a quarter of the basin’s available land currently under-utilized, the vision plan process offers a significant opportunity to transform the basin from its dull, degraded present state into one where both humans and the ecosystem can truly thrive.

The Colorado River Compact was negotiated in 1922 with the goal of divvying up what seemed, at the time, like an abundant source of water that could support agricultural growth and widespread community development throughout the southwestern United States. A century later, the shortcomings of the compact are becoming increasingly clear, as discussed in our blog. Most significantly, the Colorado River is drying up under the same mega-drought that’s gripping California, further increasing pressure for Angelenos to reduce residential water demand and advocate for local water supplies to ensure an equitable and resilient water future for Los Angeles.

The Emerald Necklace is a vision nearly 20 years in the making, a vision to create a 17-mile loop of parks and greenways connecting 10 cities and nearly 500,000 residents in the Rio Hondo and San Gabriel Rivers watershed of LA County’s San Gabriel Valley. LA Waterkeeper’s litigation helped make this vision become a reality.

The County of Los Angeles reached a settlement with LA Waterkeeper to invest $4 million in SEPs to address the #1 source of pollution to LA’s waters: urban and stormwater runoff. From this settlement, $2.8 million went to the Watts neighborhood’s 103rd Street Green Improvement Project, adding ecological features to the neighborhood’s main transportation artery, formerly known as “Charcoal Alley.”

In a lawsuit filed by LA Waterkeeper and NRDC, LA County was required to pay $4 million for projects that reduce stormwater runoff and enhance the urban tree canopy. The funding was used by TreePeople to help people retrofit their homes with water filtration and stormwater-capture features, including drought-resistant plants and bioswales.

LA Waterkeeper’s successfully litigated using the Clean Water Act against a waste hauling and recycling facility in the Sun Valley neighborhood of Los Angeles. The funding was used in part to fund the Bradley Plaza and Green Alley, a project led by Pacoima Beautiful that transformed a run-down alley into a greenway for residents to walk, bike and recreate.

How can Los Angeles capture and reuse stormwater to address our climate crisis? Learn what it means to Reuse- the 2nd R in our Integrated Approach to Water Management.

Our climate crisis has pushed the Western US into a Mega-Drought. How does LA adapt to this new normal?

Our climate crisis has pushed the Western US into a Mega-Drought. How does LA adapt to this new normal?

A case study along Ballona Creek.