The Brief

Recently, we dove deep on how every time rain falls in Southern California, gigantic pieces of infrastructure come to life in an effort to sequester as much of the stormwater as possible.

Inflatable dams are used to divert water to spreading grounds.

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Orange County Water District

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Water agencies implement dry wells, dams and spreading grounds the size of neighborhoods to give each drop a chance to percolate deep into the soil and refill our overdrawn reservoirs.

The problem is we've all but run out of room for spreading grounds, and while the water agencies are implementing other options, you can make a difference at the household level as well.

All you need is a shovel, some rocks and a tiny patch of land.

How you can capture stormwater on your property

The goal is simple: you want to slow down water and give it a chance to sink into the earth.

A hole drilled in the curb routes rushing stormwater through a pipe into a swale lined with rocks in front of this Pasadena home.

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Shawn Maestretti

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Studio Petrichor

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Landscape design firm Studio Petrichor in Altadena often features swales (bougie trenches) in their plans, incorporating rocks to prevent erosion and native plants that are able to take the inundation. They fill them by rerouting water from the street and downspouts.

The same rainwater feature from the other side.

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Shawn Maestretti

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Studio Petrichor

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Here's are some recommendations from the design firm :

Rather than having water flood the area between these two buildings, this rain garden allows it to sink into the soil.

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Shawn Maestretti

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Studio Petrichor

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• Consult a professional and make sure that you aren't in a liquefaction or landslide zone as you don't want to compromise the integrity of the soil your home is sitting on. As we've learned in recent months, water can work itself between layers of soil and keep them from sticking together, leading to catastrophic failure.
• Pay attention to how water is moving across your property and whether you can reroute and intercept it, potentially from downspouts. If it's moving toward your foundation, it'll be difficult to capture unless you install drainage to move it elsewhere.
• Once you identify a spot, dig a smooth depression. Reinforce the sides with rocks and mulch the bottom. You can also plant plants that can take being flooded.
• Studio Petrichor also prioritizes installing hügelkultur berms — or piles of logs beneath mulch/soil — which help to hold on to water and add organic matter to the earth as they break down over time.
• Make sure that if your rain garden overfills, you've figured out a way to safely route the water into the street where it can make its way to a storm drain. The firm sometimes installs multiple connected swales on their client's properties, which begins to fill as the one before it spills over.

If you're in the city of L.A., you should know that it's now required that many design plans have some sort of stormwater remediation. So, you could also follow their guidelines, which you can download here.

How big of a difference can our yards make?

It's tough to quantify how much any one yard will contribute to an aquifer, but according to analysis done for LADWP's Stormwater Capture Master Plan released in 2015, if widely implemented, water catchment features could have an impact.

"Parcel by parcel there is an additive effect and we've shown qualitatively that additive effect is really significant," said Edith de Guzman, water equity and adaptation policy cooperative extension specialist at UCLA.

The master plan was prepared with Tree People, which de Guzman was with at the time.

It depends on how you slice it, but according to de Guzman, if you add together all the small distributed projects possible (swales, rain gardens, permeable pavement) on everything from commercial properties to those with single family homes, we could theoretically add an additional 110,000 acres of land to our water percolation portfolio.

That could mean anywhere from 88,000 to 165,000 more acre feet could be sent down into our aquifers, which could potentially supply between 350,000 and 660,000 households for a year.

This is all theoretical and comes with a ton of caveats — Is the area too polluted? Is the soil conducive to infiltration and can it be dug safely? — but it gives us a rough idea of what's possible.

“It depends on location. In many portions of the San Fernando Valley, not only are the soils appropriate for doing infiltration, but so is the proximity to the underlying groundwater aquifer. In other parts where there's clay soils or there aren't necessarily connections to the aquifer," de Guzman said. "It doesn't make as much sense.”

A front yard garden that uses rocks and logs placed beneath the soil as structure. The logs and trench both help to sequester rainwater, making it available into the hotter months.

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Shawn Maestretti

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Studio Petrichor

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Not good for every property

You may not want to install water catchment features if you have dense clay soil that doesn't drain, or if you're in a landslide or liquefaction zone, and standing water could raise the risk of a catastrophic event.

While each property needs to be independently assessed, you can take a quick glance at this map from the master plan:

This map from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power shows the areas of L.A. that are ideal for sequestering water.

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Stormwater Capture Master Plan

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Los Angeles Department of Water and Power

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According to LADWP, the soil found in categories A and B should allow the best infiltration (made up of sand and silt as well as clay) and are located over important aquifers. If you're in category C, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't try and capture water, however, you may run into issues. Check out page 27 for a closer look.

If you want to store water on your property, cisterns are also an option.

In addition to water capture features like swales, Studio Petrichor installed this 2500 gallon cistern to help provide water through the hot months. That water is both used by plants and percolates deep into the soil.

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Shawn Maestretti

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Studio Petrichor

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An L.A. stormwater capture success story

Take inspiration from the Elmer Avenue Neighborhood Retrofit that we profiled last year.

The entrance to the green alley on April 15, 2023 in Sun Valley, Calif., which is made from sustainable materials and rows of colorful California native plants. Pablo Unzueta for LAist

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Pablo Unzueta

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LAist

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The San Fernando Valley neighborhood used to flood miserably. Now, after incorporating permeable pavement, curb cuts and vegetated bioswales, not only has flooding been attenuated, but the area's been beautified by all the greenery.

Sidewalks with vegetated bioswales that filter water were installed in the neighborhood. Though it made people's yards smaller, the overall benefit has been worth it to the community, Gonzalez said.

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Erin Stone

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LAist

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Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath announced Monday that she is running to be the county’s first elected chief executive. Horvath is the only candidate so far to enter the race, which is set for 2028.

The new executive post will take the place of the county’s appointed CEO and implement key priorities of the county Board of Supervisors. The executive will oversee the county budget, which is currently roughly $50 billion, and labor relations with more than 100,000 employees.

Horvath was first elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2022 and was re-elected in June to another four-year term. She represents the county’s 3rd District, which covers the San Fernando Valley and parts of the Westside and Central Los Angeles. She is a former mayor of West Hollywood.

The supervisor made her announcement Monday via social media and her campaign website. She called the race a “once-in-a-generation opportunity.”

The backstory

Voters created the position in 2024 when they approved Measure G, which was proposed by Supervisors Horvath and Janice Hahn.

Among other changes, the measure allowed the Board of Supervisors to expand from five to nine members by 2030 and established an independent Ethics Commission, which held its first meeting last month.

The pushback

On Monday, Supervisor Kathryn Barger issued a statement saying she believed it was “premature” to campaign for the new county executive position when it remained unclear whether “the office itself is constitutional.”

Barger pointed to questions raised by former federal judge Stephen Larson about whether California’s Constitution allows an elected county executive to veto board decisions, control county contracts and take on powers state law currently gives the Board of Supervisors.

“Moving forward with an office that would fundamentally change how Los Angeles County is governed, without first resolving these questions, is putting the cart before the horse,” Barger said in her statement. “We need clarity.”

The primary election is scheduled for March 7, 2028.

The Los Angeles Unified School District said it’s reviewing how to proceed after Google’s announcement last week that it will not allow schools to use its search engine unless they opt in to using artificial intelligence.

Google said that in the coming months, access to products like Gemini and Google Search would be turned off by default until schools turn them on, saying it believes “schools should have control over AI in their classroom.” But Google Search, by default, includes an AI chatbot and uses AI to summarize search results — meaning that schools that restrict AI would not have access to Google Search.

Earlier this school year, LAUSD implemented a moratorium on students using generative AI on district-issued devices.

“We are reviewing Google’s announcement and its potential implications for schools, educators and students,” said a spokesperson for LAUSD. “Los Angeles Unified believes emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, have the potential to enhance teaching and learning when introduced thoughtfully, responsibly and with clear safeguards.”

“Search and A.I. are deeply integrated,” Chris Phillips, vice president for education at Google, said to The New York Times. He told the outlet that if a school bans AI, students “will not have access to search, and they’ll see a message from their school that indicates it’s not available.”

Currently, students in LAUSD can still use Google to search for information, a district spokesperson said, but the AI mode — in which students can converse with the company’s chatbot, Gemini — is turned off. Some searches may still show an AI-generated summary or overview. The district has asked Google for a modification to allow the summaries to be turned off.

If a school does opt in to artificial intelligence, Google said it will offer a “guided learning” tool in its chatbot for student accounts “to help them work through problems without skipping straight to answers.”

The announcement has prompted outcry from advocates. "Google forced its AI products into classrooms, and parents fought back," said Lila Byock, founder of Schools Beyond Screens, the group that pushed for LAUSD’s AI moratorium, as well as the district’s screen time limit. "Now Google is refusing to take no for an answer. … Schools Beyond Screens calls on district leaders to reclaim their authority from corporate interests and divest from Google."

The district’s ad hoc committee on generative AI is scheduled to have its next meeting on Nov. 13.

Rep. Thomas Massie moved Monday to force a vote to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, setting the stage for a dramatic vote on whether to remove one of the Trump administration’s most prominent figures following sweeping election losses.

The impeachment resolution was introduced by Massie, a Kentucky Republican, as soon as the House opened for the first day of sessions after the midterms. It largely focuses on the war in Iran but also includes references to Hegseth’s role in carrying out military actions in Yemen and Venezuela.

Massie said the secretary’s actions amount to “high crimes and misdemeanors” and his leadership at the Pentagon “thus warrants impeachment.”

A vote in the House could come by mid-week, putting pressure on Republicans — many of whom blamed their election wipeout on the Iran war — but next steps are highly uncertain.

House Speaker Mike Johnson had tried to prevent this outcome, and warned lawmakers against impeaching the Defense secretary while the U.S. is engaged in military actions in the Middle East.

“Impeaching a Cabinet secretary right now, especially the Department of War in the middle of hostilities abroad would be a terrible, terrible look, a terrible thing for our allies and our enemies to see that,” Johnson, a Republican, said as he opened the chamber.

“We don’t impeach Cabinet secretaries for political gain or for cheap tricks, and I think that’s what this is and I think everybody knows it.”

Most House Democrats are expected to support impeaching Hegseth, with Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries saying over the weekend it’s time for the Defense secretary to go.

If the House votes to impeach Hegseth, it would next go to the Senate for a potential trial. Republicans remain in the majority in both chambers, until the new Congress convenes in January with Democrats in control.

Hegseth issues his own defense and prepares for a fight

Hegseth maintains he’s eager to litigate the military actions that he and President Donald Trump have taken against Iran, Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and Venezuela’s previous leaders.

“If you want to take issue with what we did in Epic Fury or Rough Rider or nabbing Nicolás Maduro, you’re taking issue with the troops and what they accomplished, which is historic,” Hegseth told reporters Monday, using the military code names for the Iran war and campaign of strikes to halt the Houthis’ attacks on shipping in the Middle East.

Hegseth also announced that he would hold a rare news conference on Tuesday — his first in over 180 days — on the impeachment threat. His last briefing was in May, and he has not held one on the Iran war, strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats or other U.S. military actions since then.

The Pentagon chief is bearing the brunt of anger and calls for his ouster after the Iran war and its economic impact contributed to severe Republican losses in the midterm elections that cost the party control of Congress.

Hegseth waves off impeachment push as ‘noise’

Hegseth, after giving a speech at the Naval War College in Rhode Island, brushed aside the impeachment push.

“There’s a lot of politically motivated people who may have substantial policy disagreements, but their disagreements are with success,” he told reporters. He added that “if we want to litigate” the military actions that the Trump administration has taken, “I’m happy to do it all day long.”

“My team, we’re not worried about the noise — it’s what I told the troops, too — ‘don’t worry about the noise,’” he said.

Asked about Vice President JD Vance blaming the Iran war for the massive GOP losses in the election, Hegseth noted that Trump said he would do it again, and “I agree.”

He largely repeated a line that Secretary of State Marco Rubio said to reporters a day earlier: “It doesn’t have to be necessarily popular, but it can be necessary.”

Hegseth argued that the war was necessary because “someone had to confront the Iranian regime’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon” and said “the choice was don’t act and wish it away or take a bold move.”

Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

Trump defended Hegseth to reporters on Sunday night.

“He’s guilty of two things, basically winning two wars,” Trump said. “I believe we saved the Middle East and Israel combined. And it’s awfully hard to say let’s impeach somebody who did that.”

Pentagon chief insists ‘Iran is devastated’

Hegseth reiterated that “Iran is devastated,” even though the Islamic Republic has been able to keep striking military bases in the Middle East that are used by the United States, causing billions of dollars in damage, as well as commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Disruptions to shipping in the waterway, where one-fifth of the world’s oil passed before the war, have led to higher energy prices that hit voters’ pocketbooks.

He said the next steps on the war are up to Trump, including telling Iran: “Hey, we’re done, and we’re going to watch your nuclear material. You better not move it.”

Hegseth’s defense of the war comes after about 6 in 10 voters said the U.S. made the “wrong decision” in taking military action against Iran, according to The AP Voter Poll, a survey of more than 100,000 voters in the United States.

With anger in Congress rising, Hegseth has been on a social media blitz, posting a video last week acknowledging the threat of impeachment. He said it would be “all about the politics of personal destruction” and insisted that “won’t work with me. You can rest assured of that.”

Since then, scores of political appointees within the Pentagon have posted images of Hegseth emblazoned with the words, “Stand. Fight. Defend the Republic.” The White House also posted a video to social media that featured praise from Trump.

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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking and Joey Cappelletti contributed to this report.

It is the final hoorah for the 119th Congress. Republicans have just weeks left in control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The main thing on the agenda: keeping the federal government open. Funding is set to run out on December 11, when a stop-gap measure passed about a month ahead of the midterms expires.

Any funding extension is all but certain to be done through another short-term bill, known as a continuing resolution. The typical government funding process — 12 carefully negotiated appropriations bills — would take time and political will that lawmakers currently lack.

Congress will also need to find a path forward on the National Defense Authorization Act, long considered a must-pass annual military funding package. This year, the bill is quagmired in the unforgiving politics of the Iran war. The conflict is opposed by a majority of Americans — something President Trump has acknowledged was a key force in driving his party out of power.

The House is also likely to vote on an impeachment effort targeting Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Introduced by Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a key figure in forcing the administration's release of the Epstein files, the impeachment measure lists a number of charges, including that the administration failed to properly consult Congress on the military campaign.

Democrats are unlikely to be in a compromising mood on legislation, just weeks away from taking control of both chambers. That means continued work on big-ticket items like the Protect College Sports Act, meant to introduce new regulations around college athlete compensation, and a bipartisan energy permitting overhaul will likely wait until the new term.

With slim majorities in both chambers, they could also have to contend with some attendance problems after a demoralizing performance in last week's midterm elections. That further complicates passing legislation through chambers already governed by the thinnest of majorities.

Mike Ricci, a Republican strategist with the group Seven Letter and aide to former Speakers of the House John Boehner and Paul Ryan, told NPR that a number of forces could help draw reluctant lame duck legislators back to Washington, including winding down their offices, finding new work and attending the White House Christmas party.

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