This intense rainfall, which results in devastating floods in some parts, isn‘t all bad for other parts. A synergy of policy, planning, technological advances, and engineering are building the capacities for local communities and groundwater basin management authorities to capture rainfall and allow it to infiltrate into our underground water sources, which is basically good. Land development laws and practices have progressed over the past 20 years and moved away from simply requiring that rainfall be piped into local creeks and channels and out to the ocean, and instead toward reducing pre-existing runoff flows and directing the rainfall to recharge local aquifers. The nasty first flush of the rainwater that occurs during the beginning of a storm, which collects motor oil and transmission drippings from the roadways, now must be diverted through configurations of vegetation and soil that function to detain and treat these surface pollutants, while the excess flows underground via porous basins. This is the case for any new development or redevelopment throughout California, and elsewhere, of course, but. Rain is especially beneficial here in the Los Angeles area, where we have extensive groundwater resources and aquifer capacity. For instance, the Santa Ana River now has many mechanisms along its course to capture floodwater and put it back into the ground.
That being said, we will not likely ever experience the artesian wells that once sprouted across the valley. Over the years, water tables have been sinking precipitously, the population continues trending upward, and even managed basins are at risk of depletion due to our perpetually sunny, desert-like conditions. As a result, people need to be learning to love life while simply subsisting on fewer gallons of water.
