Check out Carl’s article, “City OKs $8 Million Stormwater Capture Project” Originally Published in the Los Feliz Ledger.

SILVER LAKE—The Silver Lake Reservoir’s south dam will open for the first time with a public pathway February 10th, hot on the heels of Los Angeles City Council’s recent approval of $8.13 million for a stormwater capture project that aims to reduce the cost of keeping it and its neighboring Ivanhoe Reservoir full.

The stormwater capture program, headed by the Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering (BOE) and funded by the Dept. of Water and Power, will create new storm drains, junction structures, maintenance holes and pumps to divert about 51.9 million gallons of stormwater into the reservoirs from surrounding neighborhoods, according to a BOE spokesperson.

The two reservoirs lose about 136 million gallons of water to seepage and evaporation every year, according to city data. By capturing stormwater runoff that would otherwise flow into the Pacific Ocean by way of Los Angeles River and other outlets, the city will greatly reduce its need to purchase imported water, which is currently used to maintain water levels.

“It’s such a waste for that water to go rushing into the ocean,” said Anne Marie Johnson co-chair of Silver Lake Neighborhood Council’s governing board. “We might as well utilize it for our reservoirs.”