VP Kamala Harris visits LADWP facility that collects storm water

LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Calif. - Vice President Kamala Harris visited a stormwater recovery and groundwater replenishment project in Sun Valley Friday to highlight federal funding of such efforts throughout the West to help alleviate flooding while also bolstering critical water supplies.

Touring the Tujunga Spreading Grounds, Harris said the recently approved federal infrastructure funding legislation includes more than $12 billion for western water infrastructure projects.

She said the funding will help "address these issues in a way that we can build up resilience and adaptation and do the kind of work that is happening right here, which is investing in smart ways to store water so that we will have that water in times of crisis, such as drought."

Harris said she hopes the federal funding will lead to more projects like the Tujunga Spreading Grounds, a 150-acre facility aimed at capturing stormwater runoff and recharging groundwater supplies. The facility is jointly managed by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and county Department of Public Works.

She said the nation needs to "diversify our approach" when it comes to water policy, and examine "what we do in terms of conservation to recycling, desalination and storage of water."

"This plant and this facility in particular is doing some of the smartest and most contemporary kind of work that is necessary to store water."

Among those joining Harris on the visit was Sen. Alex Padilla, D- California, Rep. Tony Cardenas, D-Los Angeles, and county Supervisor Lindsey Horvath.