Ballona Creek | stormflow | 17 & 18 January 2010 storm

Location: Ballona Creek in Culver City, California (part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area).

Date: 17 and 18 January 2010

This video depicts a runoff event generated by a storm system passing through southern California, precipitaton from which began falling on the night of 17 January, continuing on into the morning and early afternoon of the 18 January 2010. The footage in this video depicts the area both before and after the storm.

This concrete channel was once a natural-bed creek, which, like most southern California stream channels, was covered in concrete sometime in the early to mid twentieth century. Southern California's natural streams were covered in concrete because of damaging floods and debris flows associated with high-magnitude storms which occurred in 1914 and 1938.

A down side to such engineering is the loss of groundwater recharge as most water is funneled into the stream channels as runoff. Urbanization also inhibits groundwater recharge through the loss of infiltration capacity at the surface, a function of ever-increasing hardscaping (roads; other concrete surfaces, etc). With the general persistent drought pattern present in the southwestern United States for the past decade or so, one can only look at this runoff and say "What a shame to waste all of that water!"

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• runoff
• Ballona
• Creek
• Culver
• City
• southern
• California
• 17
• January
• 18
• 2010
• before-storm
• after-storm
• system
• hydrologic
• engineering

[toddrunt]

no surfer dudes?

[bapyou]

Yeah - somebody should surf Ballona Creek when it's running. Only thing is, it's difficult to get close to the creek at any time. It's usually fenced off. Especially when it rains like this.

[edgexxi]

I really miss living in LA

[bapyou]

You miss LA?

Hell, I don't know how long I can keep living here. It's expensive & I'm not making hardly any money now.

[franciscojimenez31]

DaM I SeEn tHe cReEk bEfoRe I uSeD tO liVe oN slAusOn sO I wUd aLways gO kikit therE u ShoulD cHek oUt hOw crAzy it gets in the ballona and sepulveda channel meet up its crazy!!nice video!!

[bapyou]

Gracias por su addicion.

[davidsquall351]

The power switch was stuck, but I got it unstuck....Hehe

[bapyou]

Hey dude. Is your camera OK? How did you make the Chino Creek video you've posted if your camera is broke?

[davidsquall351]

I would make a video, but I broke my camera :( .The name of the wash is Chino Creek.

[bapyou]

Make a video of the wash by your house. That's my suggestion.

What its name?

[davidsquall351]

Good idea for a video. the wash by my house is up six or seven feet. looks crazy.