February storms helped Los Angeles capture 13.5B gallons of stormwater

LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power captured more than 13.5 billion gallons of stormwater last month, a huge increase over the 8.4 billion gallons captured in February 2023, Mayor Karen Bass' office announced.

"The City of Los Angeles captured more than 13.5 billion gallons of stormwater during the historic February rainstorms," Bass said. "This is great news for the city and the region, as we continue to work with the Department of Water and Power to increase our capacity to capture, clean and conserve stormwater runoff."

Officials said the 13.5 billion gallons were enough water to serve nearly 165,000 households for a year, or the equivalent to filling more than 20,000 Olympic-sized pools.

The announcement came Sunday as Bass and a delegation of city officials returned from a five-day trip to Paris, where they met with French officials as the cities prepare to host the next two Summer Olympics.