As soon as the rain starts to fall, the challenge rises up again; how to keep the trash, the chemicals on the street and the relentless waste out of the water? The usual pictures of polystyrene and paper, the crush of garbage that heads out to the beaches, is as distressing as it is preventable.
Even more critical, the chemicals that go into the ‘runoff’ – things like radiator fluid and motor oil – need to be kept out of the water.
The City of Culver City is committed to reducing pollutants in local watersheds. Due to the density of development in the Ballona Creek and Marina del Rey watersheds and the minimal open space, pollutants build up. In order to reduce the level of pollutants, the City of Culver City is taking part in stormwater programs, including:
Transfer Station Rain Garden: Rain gardens and cisterns were installed at the Transfer Station to capture rainwater from the Transfer Station roof to supplement the irrigation needs of the rain gardens. The overflow from the rain gardens discharges to storm drains as clean runoff.
Transfer Station Stormwater Diversion Project: An on-site urban and stormwater runoff diversion system was installed to prevent pollutants from discharging to the Ballona Creek by sending the first flush of stormwater into underground storage tanks.
Culver Boulevard Realignment and Stormwater Treatment Project: This project proposes construction of an underground urban and stormwater runoff treatment that diverts, captures, and treats urban and stormwater from major storm drains at Sepulveda Boulevard and Harter Avenue. A portion of the runoff will be used to supplement irrigation needs and the remaining will be discharged into the storm drain system as clean runoff.
Washington Boulevard Stormwater and Urban Runoff Diversion Project: Located in the Marina del Rey watershed, this will capture urban and stormwater runoff from approximately 40 acres in Culver City. The runoff will be stored in underground storage chambers and will be pumped to the sanitary sewer system and will be sent to Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant for treatment.
Construction on these projects will begin next year, with the end result being cleaner water everywhere.
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