Media Round Up: #LAStormCatcher      

Yesterday TreePeople held a press conference with our agency partners, Mayor Garcetti, Supervisor Kuehl and Councilmember Krekorian to unveil the #LAStormCatcher pilot-to-scale project. The project brings together agencies and Southern California residents to capture the rain at scale in the face of ongoing drought and a predicted severe El Niño winter.

The first pilot site, debuted yesterday in North Hollywood, is the first in a series of home retrofits that plans to change our relationship with water while also helping to increase local water supply, prevent flooding and improve water quality.

Homeowner Carrie Wassenaar at the #LAStormCatcher press conference
Homeowner Carrie Wassenaar at the #LAStormCatcher press conference

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“I’m excited to see my home and garden become the laboratory for a new way of living with a changing climate. Now I have one more reason to love the sound of rain on my roof.”

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The property was outfitted with a 1,320-gallon cistern to collect rainwater from a 900 square foot roof section of the resident’s roof, as well as a beautiful rain garden to recharge captured water into the underlying aquifer. What makes this especially unique, is that the cistern is “smart” and can be monitored and controlled remotely via the cloudto ptimize irrigation and infiltration according to the weather forecast.

The event got a lot of buzz! Here are some of our favorite highlights.

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The project wouldn’t be possible without the unique partnership of top water-related agencies—the Greater LA Water Collaborative—featuring the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Los Angeles County Flood Control District and the City’s Bureau of Sanitation.

Looking to learn more? Visit treepeople.org/lawatercollaborative for more background and see what you can do to green your home!

By Jessica Jewell

Jessica is TreePeople’s Director of Marketing and Communications. A native Southern Californian, you can find her wandering local trails, hanging out with her sidekick, Penny the Rescue Puppy, on her yoga mat, reading some Phillip K. Dick, or in her kitchen cooking up vegan confections.

Jessica's professional background goes back to her time working at PETA where she worked on celebrity campaigns, and a stint in the entertainment industry, where she worked at Technicolor on their Global Marketing Team.