California is in the grips of a fifth year of drought, impacting our region’s water security.

However, Los Angeles County communities can achieve a climate-resilient future and adapt to the impacts of ongoing heat, drought and pollution. It’s not just something that TreePeople believes– it’s something we’re actively working toward in partnership with our region’s largest water agencies.

[blockquote source=”Los Angeles County Supervisor, Sheila Keuhl”]We want to create an entirely new system from one home at a time throughout all the cities in the County by reusing, recycling or recharging.[/blockquote]

This vision can only be accomplished if we work together. That’s why a groundbreaking coalition of agency partners, including the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the City’s Bureau of Sanitation and the Los Angeles County Flood Control District, have joined forces to craft integrated solutions to the water challenges facing the region. It’s called the Greater LA Water Collaborative.

The Collaborative’s StormCatcher Project (#LAStormCatcher) has retrofitted pilot homes with large tanks (cisterns) and rain gardens to demonstrate how Angelenos can make a difference by capturing stormwater at home. The systems come outfitted with sophisticated cloud-based technology that can release stored rainwater into the homeowners’ landscapes in advance of a storm.

We hope these pilot projects will be the beginning of something much, much more and serve as a model for LA. If we want to not just survive — but truly thrive– in our new climate reality, action must be taken by all Angelenos.

For more information, visit the Greater LA Water Collaborative page.