Green city calls for great amount of green project
Recently, Los Angeles shows its green street project. It is a model of sustainability of cities, many projects included, for example solar lighting and solar powered vehicles and other solar products.
This May a neighborhood in the Northeast San Fernando Valley became a model of sustainability for Los Angeles. With a long term goal of providing enough clean water for future generations, a coalition of non-profit organizations and government agencies has transformed a residential street with frequent flooding problems into a street that cleans up water pollution - enhancing the community and protecting nature in the process.
Nancy Steele, Executive Director of the Watershed Council, said, "By turning our yards into rain gardens and our streets into water recharge facilities, we can ensure clean water for the future. In contrast to a typical urban street, Elmer Avenue now reduces flooding and water pollution, improves water quality, replenishes groundwater supplies, and increases native habitat."
The project demonstrates multiple "Low Impact Development" strategies on both public and private lands and maximizes permeable surfaces. Additional benefits include conserving water through use of drought-tolerant landscaping, beautifying and cooling the street with trees and native vegetation, increasing wildlife habitat, creating a more walkable and safe street with sidewalks, and solar street lights.
The City of Los Angeles constructed the public right-of-way as well as new infrastructure. The Watershed Council hired a contractor to work on the private properties, transforming nearly half of the individual front yards with swales, permeable pavers, and native plants.
The new, sustainably designed Elmer Avenue also:
• Increases community awareness of watershed issues and conservation strategies;
• Provides a large-scale demonstration project to serve as a local, regional, and national model;
• Includes project evaluation through monitoring of storm water flow and water quality pre- and post construction;
• Relies on participation from residents to maintain the improvements.
The beautiful future really attracting us but some of the problem still remains to be solved, for example, the renewable energy and the depletion of some other resources.
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