One Big Backyard

Thursday, December 30, 2004, at 01:10PM

By Eric Richardson

Today's (well, yesterday's... I'm slow) absolute understatement of the day comes to us by way of a Daily News piece talking about how the Sepulveda Basin dam handled this week's rain. The article helpfully tells us that:

The Valley's largest recreational park doubles as its flood-control system - one that can hold thousands of gallons of water, then slowly release the flow into the Los Angeles River after the storm has passed.

So, here's the thing: I'm sure the basin really holds somewhere up around a million gallons. "Thousands of gallons" is tiny. This pool site tells me that a 4' deep pool with a 24' diameter holds a touch under 12,000 gallons. I'd really like to think that the Sepulveda Basin holds more than a small swimming pool or two.

Eric Richardson lives in Atlanta, Georgia, where he works on payments infrastructure for Cash App.

Past lives involved streaming audio for Southern California Public Radio, running a hyperlocal news site for Downtown Los Angeles, working on custom mapping code, and writing Perl at the Jet Propulsion Labratory.

Previously on this date...

2006
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