wa·ter·shed
noun |
"The watershed is the first and last nation whose boundaries, though subtly shifting, are unarguable.” - Gary Snyder
Everyone lives in a watershed, from the great deserts to the tops of the highest mountains. The Los Angeles metropolitan area is actually made up of several watersheds. These include the Santa Clara watershed in the north, the Ballona Creek/Santa Monica Bay watershed in the west, the San Gabriel in the east, and the Los Angeles River watershed right in the middle of it all.
When people think about Los Angeles, they think about Hollywood, about freeways, about shopping, even about earthquakes and droughts, but they don't think about rivers. The Los Angeles area covers over 1,000 square miles of the second-most densely populated metropolitan area in the United States, but Southern California also has a rich and varied natural world that is unknown even to many of us who live here. Our waterways are an important part of our past and our future, and the key to saving them is understanding how they work.
"A watershed is that area of land, a bounded hydrologic
system, within which all living things are inextricably linked by
their common water course and where, as humans settled, simple logic
demanded that they become part of a community." |
Watersheds are often broken down into sub-watersheds by tributary waterways for purposes of more detailed planning efforts. There are several collaborative sub-watershed planning processes being undertaken in the region. These currently include Arroyo Seco, Sun Valley, Tujunga Wash, Compton Creek, Dominguez Channel, Upper San Gabriel River, Rio Hondo and Ballona Creek.
The most ambitious and exciting of these is the Sun Valley effort. Inspired by TreePeople’s visionary leader, Andy Lipkis, the County is undertaking a comprehensive plan to manage all stormwater in the sub-watershed on site without resorting to traditional concrete infrastructure. The plan aims to increase water conservation, recreational opportunities, and wildlife habitat, and reduce stormwater pollution.
Learn more about your watershed using the menu at left.