Santa Monica, Calif., Nears Completion on Storm Water Runoff Project

Santa Monica, Calif., has made progress on a storm water runoff capture and treatment project. The project, scheduled to be completed this August, will divert storm water runoff from downtown Santa Monica into a 1.6 million gal water tank in a parking lot of the Santa Monica Pier. The water will then be piped to a treatment facility and reused for irrigation, flushing toilets and recharging groundwater supplies, according to NBC Los Angeles.

The runoff will be treated at the Santa Monica Urban Runoff Recycling Facility, commonly known as SMURRF. The facility is capable of processing half a million gal of water per day. While the city still relies on imported water for 20% of their water needs, city officials hope to become self-sufficient and more sustainable.

Funding for the project comes from state proposition 40 funds allocated by the state water resources control board and from Measure V parcel tax assessments that Santa Monica voters passed in 2006.