Elmer Avenue Neighborhood Retrofit

The Elmer Avenue Neighborhood Retrofit transformed a typical residential street into a model "green street" by incorporating stormwater best management practices and educating residents. The project, led by the Council for Watershed Health, utilizes a variety of strategies, both on public and private property, to show how a neighborhood can safely capture rainwater and recharge the groundwater aquifer. Elmer Avenue demonstrates a variety of sustainable strategies including underground infiltration galleries, open bottom catch basins, bioswales, rain barrels, permeable pavers, climate-appropriate landscapes, and solar street lights. The project reduces street flooding, increases the local groundwater supply, enhances the community by increasing green space and improving infrastructure, and promotes sustainable low impact design.

The Elmer Avenue Neighborhood Retrofit Project was completed in 2010 and included 24 home retrofits, 23 new native trees, 13 rain barrels, and infiltration galleries beneath the street. Project partners and supporters include the Council for Watershed Health, TreePeople, the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation, the City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, among many others.