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The mission of the Sun Valley Watershed Stakeholders Group is to solve
the local flooding problem while retaining all stormwater runoff
from the watershed, increasing water conservation, recreational opportunities, and wildlife habitat, and reducing
stormwater pollution.
There's something exciting going on in Sun Valley! A serious
effort to solve the area's chronic flooding problem is underway, but that's not
the half of it. Planners envision a solution that will bring many other benefits
to the community as well. The implementation here of what's known as a
"watershed approach" to urban environmental problems could focus regional and
national attention on Sun Valley. On this website, we'll provide both an introduction
to the Sun Valley Watershed Project and a clearinghouse for project information.
We hope you'll find the site informative and useful - maybe even inspiring!
Sun Valley is a district of the northeast San Fernando Valley,
known to many Angelenos as the site of gravel pits and innumerable media stories
about seriously flooded intersections. As they do in much of the urban area, hard
surfaces dominate the Sun Valley landscape and prevent the ground from absorbing
stormwater runoff. But Sun Valley lacks the infrastructure that, in much of the city,
quickly carries runoff to the ocean. The result is a chronic flooding problem that
often inconveniences and sometimes endangers the area's 80,000 residents.
Stormwater runoff in urban areas is the focus of a lot of regulatory
attention these days because all those hard surfaces aggravate downstream flooding
and contribute pollutants to our streams and the ocean. For these reasons, among
others, traditional storm drains are no longer considered the best way of managing
stormwater, and local government agencies are working to find effective alternatives.
Those agencies, along with area residents, businesses and environmental
groups, have come together to develop a flood control plan for Sun Valley that will also
address water quality issues, while providing a number of additional benefits to the
community - benefits such as water conservation and more space for recreation and wildlife
habitat. Monthly meetings of the Sun Valley Watershed Stakeholders Group are facilitated
by the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works, which is taking the lead on this
innovative project.
The Department has hired a consultant team that includes the engineering
firm Montgomery Watson Harza and the environmental nonprofit group TreePeople. The team is
working on a watershed management plan to meet the goals outlined in the Group's mission
statement, printed above. The team is also charged with outreach and public education tasks -
understanding local concerns, informing residents of the underlying issues and promoting the
benefits of a multipurpose plan.
The selection and design of several pilot projects in the watershed, the
development of this website, and the publication of the Watershed Events newsletter are among
the team's early efforts. All of our efforts are aimed at developing multipurpose projects to
control the flooding in Sun Valley, while improving the community in other ways as well. We
need your support, and we'd appreciate hearing your ideas and concerns. Find out about opportunities
to learn and to help under Resources and Get Involved.
Click here
for a map of the Sun Valley watershed.
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