The David M. Gonzales Recreation Center in Pacoima is the first location for nine stormwater capture projects planned for areas across the San Fernando Valley.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and LA City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez announced the official launch of the construction.
“This groundbreaking is an incredible and critical milestone for a community that has been eager to see this investment in our area for many, many years,” said Rodriguez, speaking alongside Bass, representatives of the LA Department of Water and Power (LADWP) and other city officials, community leaders and local residents.
The LADWP’s Stormwater Capture Parks Program – which will create 85 new jobs locally – is funded in part by the Measure W “Safe Clean Water Program,” a voter-approved parcel tax.
“When all nine of these projects are complete, it will double our stormwater capture for the entire city,” added David Hanson, interim general manager of LADWP. “Specifically, this [Pacoima] project will bring enough water to supply approximately 1,600 Los Angeleno homes annually.”
In addition, noted Hanson, the Pacoima park will be enhanced with additional amenities, sports fields, walking paths, exercise equipment, trees and California-friendly landscaping projects.
Upon completion – between May 2028 and December 2028 – the nine valley-based projects are expected to collectively capture almost 950 million gallons of water per year. In Pacoima alone, it will capture an estimated 147 million gallons of water yearly, filtering out about “32,000 pounds of undissolved particulate matter that would … otherwise [be] swept up into the ocean.”
“Under existing conditions,” said Rodriguez, “rain and stormwater would simply flow into the wash untreated … wasting a critical opportunity for us to use it here in the city of Los Angeles.”
By capturing excess rain and stormwater, the project will help reduce street flooding across the valley and also increase the local water supply for Angelenos, according to Rodriguez.
David Pettijohn, director of Water Resources for LADWP, described the water capture process.
“As the rain falls on the project, it’s going to be captured and … moved into three [underground] bays, [which] … are designed to purify the water and remove any contaminants,” he explained.
After the water reaches the third bay – called the infiltration gallery – that’s “where all the magic happens,” said Pettijohn. From the gallery, the captured water percolates down several hundred feet – a process that further purifies the water, he said – until it ends up in the groundwater basin.
“Once it’s down to the [San Fernando Valley] Groundwater Basin, [the water] is going to be available for the Department of Water and Power to pump it, to treat it to drinking water standards and to deliver it to our customers,” said Pettijohn.
Rodriguez, who represents the 7th District – including Pacoima, Sylmar and other areas of the Northeast San Fernando Valley – said the San Fernando Valley Groundwater Basin is “one of the largest and most strategically important urban aquifers in all of Southern California.”
“It’s critical for our water infrastructure to be able to make greater use of California’s liquid gold [by] replenish[ing] this aquifer that will provide [LADWP] and residents here in the city of Los Angeles a valuable and accessible water supply for years to come,” continued Rodriguez.
Doing so will help reduce the city’s reliance on imported water – which she described as a “great expense” – and “gets us closer to achieving a 70% locally-sourced water supply by 2035.”
That’s the mayor’s goal. To help achieve that target, Bass said her new Climate Action Plan calls for the continued development of additional stormwater capture projects – in addition to the nine planned for the valley – and said she hopes to have 100 projects completed citywide by 2035.
“When we do have a season when we have a lot of rainfall, after many, many years of drought … we want to do everything we can to capture that,” said Bass. “So this groundbreaking [here in Pacoima] … is a huge win for sustainability. We are launching LA forward in this space.
“We all know that the impact of the climate crisis is local, as well as national and international, and this is helping to move our city in the right direction,” she continued. “So, today is about, obviously, this stormwater capture, but it’s also about bold climate action – it’s about delivering results and it’s about meeting the moment to protect our city, our people and our planet.”
The City of San Fernando constructed its own underground stormwater infiltration system beneath San Fernando Recreation Park, which it launched in late 2023 to capture runoff from three storm drains to provide water for the same local groundwater basin for use by LADWP.
Rudy Ortega Jr., one of five members of the Board of Commissioners for LADWP, said the stormwater projects will support LA’s “long-term vision to become [more] water resilient.”
“For generations, rainfall has been viewed as something that we had to control,” – for example, flood control, to help keep communities safe, said Ortega. But while that remains essential, they also recognize the growing need to capture, clean, safely store and utilize stormwater citywide.
“We recognize stormwater for the truly valuable [and sustainable] resource … that it is,” he said.