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CityStories / City Profiles / Medium Cities / Burbank, California

City to Watch

Population: 100,316


 

Photo Credit: Andrew Leitch/Flickr


Burbank, California

Map showing this city's location

Southern California has been suffering from the eight-year-long drought on the Colorado River, little local rainfall, and a judicial order to reduce pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta by more than half. In May 2008, the City of Burbank, California, approved a Sustainable Water Use Practices Ordinance with four stages of practices based on the water supply level.

Although it is currently in stage one, which involves voluntary water-saving measures, these include specifications against allowing water runoff and serving drinking water in restaurants when not requested, and instructing the prompt repair of household leaks. The city, which owns the utility Burbank Water and Power, offers education on water conservation with free classes on efficient landscaping and a way to report observed water-wasting practices to the authorities, who will then send the offender a warning letter.

The city-owned, public/private Burbank Recycle Center opened in 1992 and is home to a materials recovery facility, a buyback and drop-off center, a used-oil center, the "compost corner," and a learning center. The city collects about 1,000 tons of green waste each month, but encourage backyard composting with workshops at the Recycle Center. The learning center also offers tours, exhibits on recycled materials and a library.

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NYC's Residential Recycling Program

Live in NYC and wonder what you can recycle and how? This guide will help.

Porous Paving

The EPA's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System site provides information about applicability, siting and design criteria.

Georgia's Department of Community Affairs has a page on best practices for porous paving.
Portland, Oregon's Bureau of Environmental Service pervious paving projects page.
City of Chicago's permeable paving site with many local examples.
San Francisco Parks Trust permeable landscape page.

Environmental Health Perspectives provides a good overview in "Paving Paradise: The Peril of Impermeable Surfaces."

NRDC's report Stormwater Strategies: Community Responses to Runoff Pollution considers a variety of responses implemented across the country.

Water Conservation

US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation: with a mission to "manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in an environmentally and economically sound manner in the interest of the American public" the bureau provides information about water levels in reservoirs throughout the West, updates on dams, powerplants and related projects and a library of water reclamation materials.

Bureau of Reclamation WaterSMART program: Information on WaterSMART grants for water and energy conservation projects, basin studies with integrated management plans and water supply reviews and details on the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives in the Southwest.

In Hot Water: Water Management Strategies to Weather the Effects of Global Warming (NRDC report)

Water Efficiency Saves Energy (NRDC report)

Las Vegas Water District conservation pages

Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNVA) conservation and rebates

SNVA landscaping information

 

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