A city’s embrace of the rising seas
A series of lush gardens trace the West Coast Basin Barrier, a 15 km long line of injection wells in Torrance, Los Angeles.
Reversing the old strategy of injecting precious freshwater to hold back the sea, the existing wells now pump the saltwater up to soak the humid gardens and spongy marsh enclosures. Saltwater infrastructure becomes spatial and public here: the well pavilion and extending garden walls channel saltwater to salicornia meadows and food gardens, saltmarsh flower fields and a walled tamarisk grove.
- walled garden
- saltwater falaj channel
- well dressing
- halophytes
- salicornia
As sea levels rise, a less visible yet just as destructive invasion of saltwater into the aquifers takes place beneath Los Angeles. On a larger urban scale, the Saltwater Gardens straddle this boundary of seawater incursion beneath the city – about 2 miles inland from the coast. The existing (and problematic) solution of a Sea Wall of freshwater injection wells will not hold for much longer in the extremes of climate change. The Saltwater Gardens form a necklace of much needed verdant public spaces in Torrance, diverting and utilizing the influx of saltwater and thereby protecting the freshwater basin of Los Angeles.
Unlike the defensive sea wall strategies, this is a way of inviting the ocean into the city. The well, the pump house and the irrigation channel now become visible, spatial and celebratory forms of public saltwater infrastructure.
The project was presented as part of PANDO, a civic engagement program that organizes and supports practical projects that address the sustainability goals prioritized by Los Angeles County.
