[jeffbee]

You, like them, are wrong, for reasons that I already explained. These urban systems were designed to deliver and were in fact delivering more water 50 years ago than they do currently. Much more. They are underutilized! Building the apartments only takes them marginally up in the direction of their design capacity.

[kjkjadksj]

In the case of LA they are underutilized compared to the past because of laws mainly. Hollywood reservoir was lowered in capacity due to the perceived risk of the dam design. Silverlake reservoir was disconnected from the drinking water system due to bromate buildup. LA aqueduct pulls less water than it did in the 1970s in effort to protect Mono lake and mitigate dust in the Owens valley.

Recent advances have been in using spill basins and other infrastructure to recharge groundwater after seasonal storms. During the last storm season, LA county captured 117 billion gallons of stormwater which they claim is enough for the yearly need of almost 3 million homes. Many projects are ongoing to improve this rate of catchment as the state is pushing for LA to meet most of its water needs locally over the next century.