Publication: SFGate

UCLA Expert: Gregory Pierce: Adjunct Assistant Professor, Luskin School of Public Affairs; Co-Director, Luskin Center for Innovation; Co-Director, UCLA Water Resources Group; Member, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability; Senior Researcher, Water and Transportation Initiatives

Synopsis: There are 25,000 catch basins in San Francisco. The utilities commission’s operations crews deep clean somewhere between 5,000 and 9,000 of them annually. Roughly 4,400 catch basins have been “adopted,” although that doesn’t mean anywhere close to 4,400 are regularly cleaned by volunteers, says Pierce.

UCLA News: “It's great if neighborhoods and local communities can take additional ownership of unclogging issues,” Pierce said. “But in terms of the basic maintenance of the system, I do think that it has to be centralized, both from an efficiency standpoint and a responsibility standpoint. Because of voluntary adoption, when the follow-through isn't there, who's responsible?”

Pierce agreed that adding absorbent features to the cityscape could play a huge role in mitigating flooding. “Reducing paved area is the biggest factor we need to take into account that we haven't historically,” according to him. Part of the problem, Pierce believes, is that because flooding is a relatively rare occurrence, the public’s interest waxes and wanes, which makes it difficult to obtain sufficient funding from relevant agencies. “It's hard for the public to grasp that, and hard for decision-makers to invest in that, when it's not an everyday concern.” As he put it, “When it comes to those extreme events that we're already now facing, there needs to be a whole new model.”

Read more at SFGate.