Los Angeles County has a long history of relying on non-localized sources of water due to its expanding population and not having enough of its own water resources. The county itself relies on three major aqueducts such as the Los Angeles Owens Valley Aqueduct (1913), the Colorado River Aqueduct (1940), and the California Aqueduct (1972) that supplies the county with gallons of water each day (Bilodeau, W. L., et al. 46). Although the county has long relied on imported sources from many areas, utilizing the imports of water from non-localized sources has caused numerous of controversial issues since the establishment of the aqueduct systems in Los Angeles. Because of the controversy, county officials are actively using storm water capture and …show more content…
In a 2014 study, “Mini et. al found that outdoor water use accounts for approximately 54% of total residential water use in Los Angeles County (Manago, K. F. et al. 627). Additionally, Deoreo (2011) explains that, “water use in Southern California accounts for approximately 65% of total residential water use” than Northern California (627). For the reason that California experiences drought conditions, Los Angeles County has implemented mandatory water restrictions with steep price increases to lower outdoor water usage. In Table 2, Mini et al. illustrates that during 2001-2007 fiscal year there were no mandatory laws and price increases to establish the limitations of outdoor water usage and the rate of usage was 439 (Manago, K. F. et al. 629). Towards 2009- 2014 fiscal year, however, the rate of water usage went down to 285 because of the established conservation water use and increased prices of water (629). Although the conservation of water triumphed in Los Angeles County, the county still needs to find way to mitigate issues of urban runoff and streamflow in the Ballona Creek …show more content…
In Manago et al.’s study, the article illustrates the differences of streamflow and urban runoff between the Ballona Creek and the Topanga Creek watersheds (Manago, K. F. et al. 628). These watersheds are located within the Los Angeles region. However according to Figure 1, Ballona Creek is located in an area where there is more urban development compared to the Topanga Creek area. Additionally, there are major differences between the watersheds as Topanga Creek “experiences more precipitation and lower temperatures than Ballona Creek due to the orographic features of the surrounding Santa Monica Mountains” (628). To study different streamflow trends, a stream gage is placed near the outlet of the watersheds and records runoff ratios annually. According from the study, runoff ratios are historically high in the Ballona Creek watershed as the basin is largely “composed of impervious surfaces” (Manago, K. F. et al. 630). Because of the impervious surfaces in the Ballona Creek area, urban runoff contributes to the high runoff ratio no matter the season (e.g wet or dry) (Manago, K. F. et al. 632). However, runoff ratios remain constant for Topanga Creek as the area is not channelized and changes of the runoff ratio are more noticeable during the wet season (632). However, runoff ratios remain constant for Topanga Creek as the area is not channelized