LGC: Waste Prevention : Water Quality

In California, water is a commodity that everyone wants more of. Competing interests include residents, industry, agriculture, and the environment. We can't afford to waste or pollute the limited supply that we have.

LGC's work since 1991 to help local governments build more livable communities includes the goal of water conservation. Conventional subdivision design includes wide impermeable cul-de-sac streets with storm drains to collect run off from lawns. The storm drains collect pollution from streets and chemicals from lawns that lower water quality in the bodies of water they eventually reach.

More livable communities such as Village Homes in Davis, CA include narrower streets (20-24 feet), lawns that slope away from the street and into a natural drainage system, and a pedestrian/bicycle trail system that provides an option to using a car for many daily trips. These types of communities provide more opportunities for on-site infiltration of water which is cleansed by percolating through the soil, instead of being released to surface waters.

The use of native vegetation is another way to conserve water. Plants that grow naturally in an area can survive on annual rainfall without additional irrigation. Lush lawns in deserts require vast amounts of water that is not locally available.

Trees improve water quality by intercepting and storing rainfall on leaves and branch surfaces, thereby reducing runoff volumes and delaying the onset of peak flows. They increase the capacity of soils to infiltrate rainfall and reduce overland flow, and they reduce soil erosion by diminishing the impact of raindrops on barren surfaces. Irrigated tree plantations can also be a safe and productive means of wastewater disposal; reused wastewater can recharge aquifers and reduce stormwater treatment loads.

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