Building Greener, Healthier Communities
GREEN SCHOOLS
Overview
Every child deserves a school that is safe, healthy, and allows them to thrive.
But across Los Angeles, many schoolyards are covered in asphalt. These spaces trap heat, limit access to nature, and send polluted runoff into our waterways when it rains. For many students, especially in underserved communities, school campuses are one of the most paved and least green environments they experience each day.
By transforming schoolyards with trees, gardens, and other nature-based solutions, we can turn them into cooler, greener spaces that improve student health, capture and clean water, and strengthen our region’s overall climate resilience.
The LA River spans
19.5 billion gallons
of stormwater each year, making them one of the region’s largest untapped water resources
The Challenge
Unlike most other properties, schools are
not required to manage
the runoff they generate, allowing pollution to flow untreated into local waterways
LAUSD owns over
10 square miles of land
much of it paved and unable to absorb water
Solutions
LA Waterkeeper is working to turn schoolyards into climate solutions that support student health, clean water, and stronger communities.
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We are advocating for updated stormwater permits that finally include school campuses. Bringing schools into the MS4 Phase II framework would require them to better manage runoff, reducing pollution flowing into stormdrains, rivers and beaches while also driving investment in greener, healthier campuses.
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Through our work with the Living Schoolyards Coalition, we bring together educators, advocates, designers, and policymakers to share best practices, host convenings, and build support for nature-based schoolyard transformations. This work helps move green schoolyards from isolated projects to a scalable, region-wide solution.
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Through the Safe Clean Water Program, we support efforts to redesign campuses with trees, gardens, bioswales, and outdoor learning spaces that capture stormwater, reduce heat, and create healthier environments for students.
