California Lets 740 Billion Gallons of Stormwater Wash Away Annually: Report

While the state receives a small amount of rain every year, it has a large urban land area, creating more opportunities for rainwater capture.

An aerial view of the Los Angeles River swollen by storm runoff, in Los Angeles on Feb. 5, 2024. Mario Tama/Getty Images

A lack of infrastructure to capture stormwater in California leads to nearly 740 billion gallons washing out to sea every year, according to a newly released report.

Authored by the Pacific Institute, a nonprofit water think tank headquartered in Oakland, California, in collaboration with 2ndNature, a stormwater management software company based in Santa Cruz, the Feb. 29 report quantified the amount of stormwater runoff in urban areas nationwide.