SOUTH WHITTIER, Calif. — A 15-acre park that has long been used for baseball, barbecues and dozens of other outdoor activities will soon have another claim to fame. On Wednesday, Adventure Park in Whittier broke ground on a stormwater capture project that will include 6.4 million gallons of underground water storage and an above-ground runoff capture system to help reduce flooding and bolster local water supplies.
“This is a multi-benefit project,” LA County Public Works Director Mark Pestrella said at Wednesday’s groundbreaking. “It’s improving the quality of the water in your communities. It’s improving the drinking water system. And it’s creating community benefits like the park.”
In addition to capturing and cleaning polluted urban runoff, it will eliminate the stagnant water — and smell — from a nearby flood control canal known as Sorensen Drain. Because the project requires tearing up the site's existing grass, the county’s parks and recreation department will also upgrade many Adventure Park facilities, including new exercise equipment, a sports field, walking paths and outdoor seating.
Located in South Whittier, in an unincorporated part of LA County, the $41.2 million project is funded in part with property tax revenues generated through Measure W — the LA County ballot initiative voters approved in 2018. The Safe Clean Water Program, as it is now known, taxes property owners within the LA County Flood Control District 2.5 cents per square foot of impermeable surface area. Those funds are then used to increase local water supplies and improve water quality. Annually, the countywide program generates as much as $285 million.
Pestrella estimates the Safe Clean Water Program will be able to capture 18.5 billion gallons of stormwater over the next five years, providing enough water to serve 500,000 people for one year.
“A few years ago, LA County residents voted to pass Measure W and tax themselves because they saw the challenges of water scarcity and pollution before us and believed that we needed to do better to handle them,” LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn said Wednesday. “Projects like we’re doing today are a first step toward everybody seeing where their money is going and the difference it’s going to make in the future.”
The groundbreaking took place two days before another major winter storm was set to descend on Southern California, bringing rain and unusual blizzard conditions.
“Every time it rains, we hear from residents who want to know why we’re letting so much of that rainwater run into the gutters, into the LA River and out to the ocean,” Hahn said. “Rainwater is precious, and projects like this one mean that we will be able to capture millions more gallons of storm water, treat it and then use it again.”
Adventure Park will be closed while the stormwater capture project is completed. LA County officials estimate it will take two years to build the underground storage system and upgrade the facilities above ground, during which time residents are encouraged to visit nearby Mayberry and Sorensen Parks.