Daughter Lill called me from Los Angeles recently. It had been raining and raining and she donned a raincoat as she was feeling house bound. She walked down to the Los Angeles River. This river is in a broad, concrete culvert and when we saw it at Christmas while visiting it was just a small stream of water.
When Lill saw it recently, it was a raging torrent. We know from our storm water experts, that when water flows over soil, many of the pollutants can be removed and microbes in the ground can safely decompose them. In the case of the Los Angeles River, everything goes right into the Pacific Ocean. Lill, who has become a surfer, said that after even a normal rain event you can’t surf for two days as the ocean itself becomes so polluted.
