Beverly Gardens Park

Beverly Hills, CA, 2015

There are 17 alleys that intersect with Beverly Gardens Park in Beverly Hills, CA. Currently, stormwater from the alleys bypasses the park and flows onto Santa Monica and Wilshire boulevards.

There’s a unique opportunity here; an opportunity for water conservation by utilizing stormwater from the 17 alleys that merge with Beverly Gardens Park.

There are two design approaches for utilizing stormwater from the alleys — these design approaches can be independent or combined. The first is to collect stormwater from the alley “tributaries” in underground cisterns at the park – where it could be stored and reused to irrigate the park’s vegetation. The second approach is to create a bioswale that will slow and filter the stormwater from the alleys. The bioswale would have an abundance of plants that attract and provide habitat for urban wildlife.

This water conservation concept, if built by the City of Beverly Hills, could be a forerunner of water conservation for other sites where alleys intersect with parks.