Eyewitness Newsmakers: How to harness stormwater and the concerning 100-year flood assessment

CALIFORNIA (KABC) -- There's a new type of water concern for our area. We're usually talking about too little water, but do we now have too much?

Flooding is a real worry following this winter's atmospheric rivers, which dropped inches of rain and feet of snow.

In this edition of Eyewitness Newsmakers with Marc Brown, Brett Sanders, professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Irvine, laid out a worrying scenario.

He and his team mapped a 100-year flood scenario for our region. They discovered our network of flood control channels may not be up to the task, which could mean water may spill over the channel banks or banks could collapse, sending water into areas where millions of people live.

That floodwater could be anywhere from ankle-deep to above heads.

Another consideration for the future of water in Southern California is how to take advantage of the wet weather when we do receive it.

Rita Kampalath, the Acting Chief Sustainability Officer for Los Angeles County, said there is already an extensive capture system, but the goal is to increase that ability and that will take time.

L.A. County has a long-term sustainability plan to source 80% of water locally, by capturing stormwater and recycling water.

Capturing and conserving water is work Los Angeles Waterkeeper also champions.

Executive Director Bruce Reznik explained how residents in Southern California are doing a good job conserving water indoors, but adds conservation in outdoor spaces could use more work.

Reznik believes ornamental lawns waste water and do not have much value to a sustainable environment. He suggests removing ornamental lawns and replacing them with native landscape that allows water to filer into groundwater and provide habitat for birds and bees.