SGV

This committee addresses a number of issues related to the environment including open space, water and air quality.

Located in a valley just below the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, the San Gabriel Valley land is 50% zoned for institutional and open space use. However, most of that open space is included as part of the Angeles National Forest. The rest of the San Gabriel Valley is already 99% built out, leaving little room for new parks. With a state standard of 5 acres of open space for every 1,000 people, a doubling of the park acreage is required to meet this standard. It is imperative that communities in the San Gabriel Valley work together to focus on accommodating open space needs in a built-out urban environment. The San Gabriel & Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy (RMC), which the SGVCOG played a key role in helping to create, has worked with our local communities for open space and habitat preservation and development. In fact, since the COG worked with then State Senator Hilda Solis to create the RMC, almost $50 million in RMC funding over the last five years have gone to SGVCOG member cities to support various open space and habitat projects.

As the San Gabriel Valley is located within South Coast Air Basin (one of the most polluted air basins in the nation), air quality within the region is of crucial importance to stakeholders within the Valley. In 2001, the maximum pollutant concentrations (ozone and particulate matter) exceeded federal standards by wide margins. The East San Gabriel Valley, in particular, had high ozone concentrations. The Basin’s severe air pollution problem is a consequence of the combination of emissions from the nation’s second largest urban area and meteorological conditions which are adverse to the dispersion of those emissions. The average wind speed for Los Angeles is the lowest of the nation’s ten largest urban areas. In addition, the summertime maximum mixing height (an index of how well pollutants can be dispersed vertically in the atmosphere) in Southern California averages the lowest in the U.S. The Southern California area is also an area with abundant sunshine, which drives the photochemical reactions which form pollutants such as ozone.

The San Gabriel Valley’s main source of water supply comes from its groundwater basin; in fact, 90% or 280,000 acre-feet of the Valley’s annual water supply come from the basin. The groundwater basin is 167 square miles of surface area, has more than 8 million acre-feet of water, and is pumped from about 200 wells. About 10% of the San Gabriel Valley’s water needs are met by “imported” surface water delivered directly to customers. This imported water also helps in replenishing the groundwater supply. There are three important groundwater basins. The Main San Gabriel Basin is the largest, and is separated from the Raymond Basin to the northwest by the Raymond Fault, which serves as a partial barrier to groundwater flow. The Puente Basin is a shallow basin that underlies the Puente Valley and is tributary to the Main San Gabriel Basin. These three basins are managed separately.

Water in the San Gabriel Valley is an integral component of its history, having been critical in developing the Valley’s agricultural economy. Later, following a postwar boom in industrial development and the release of toxic industrial chemicals into the groundwater system, a number of serious water quality issues surfaced. Significant concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were discovered in the Valley’s groundwater in the late 1970s and remain the main focus of current groundwater cleanup. Other water quality issues involve nitrates, perchlorate, and other emerging contaminants – all with serious public health consequences. Besides contamination, other water supply challenges include: groundwater storage opportunities, infrastructure to maintain water levels, use of recycled water, consumer water conservation, and storm water capture.

Organization
This committee consists of elected and appointed officials from member agencies. Staff members from the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy also serve as ex-officio members.

There are currently four (4) member agencies that participate on the Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee. The member agencies and their representative on this committee are as follows:

The fourth Wednesday of the month at 10:30 a.m. at the City of Monrovia Corporate Yard Buildling.

HOT TOPICS

Under the direction of the EENR Committee, staff has begun to develop a compendium of model environmental ordinances on a number of topics including: energy efficiency, solar energy, green buildings, water recycling and/or conservation, building materials, trees, recycling, solid waste, open space, and walkability/bikeability. Model ordinances, resolutions, and green city action plans are being collected from cities within the San Gabriel Valley, as well as other jurisdictions in Southern California and beyond for the purpose of facilitating cites' efforts to adopt ordinances that protect our Valley's critical natural resources.