Echo Park Lake Clean Up Hits the Airwaves

The City’s effort to clean up Echo Park Lake was covered by a local National Public Radio affiliate earlier this month. The City of Los Angeles is in the planning stages of rehabilitating the lake to address the trash and pollutants that have impaired this
water body. The lake, well-loved by the community, was last drained
and cleaned shortly before the 1984 Summer Olympics.

Currently stormwater drains directly into the lake, which eventually leads to the Los Angeles River. So a cleaner lake means a cleaner river, and ultimately a cleaner ocean. Public comments on how the City should best utilize Prop O funds to remediate the lake is fast approaching, so check out how you can chime in.

To listen to the segment online, please visit Southern California Public Radio’s home on the web. Also check out the great video clip below that depicts the historic Echo Park Lake throughout the years.



*Photo courtesy of LapPhoto1

The Coast is Clear(er)

We live in an age where cutting edge technology is everywhere, making our lives and its related challenges easier to solve. Often times we aren’t aware or able to understand the technology that makes our lives easier. It just happens in the background, without us knowing. We simply reap the benefits.

And so it is in our ongoing fight to combat ocean pollution. On any given summer day here in Los Angeles more than 100 million gallons of polluted urban runoff flow untreated to Santa Monica and San Pedro Bays. To put this amount into perspective, 100 million gallons is enough water to fill the Rose Bowl to the brim. This flow easily increases to one billion gallons during a normal storm event.

Unbeknownst to many Angelenos, the City of Los Angeles has been employing state-of-the-art technology all along Pacific Coast Highway to address the urban runoff issue plaguing Southland beaches. This technology comes in the form of low flow diversion (LFD) projects. Here’s the gist: during low rainfall periods (like summer months) water still flows through the storm drain system. This water ends of flowing to the ocean. However, when this water hits LFD installations bacteria and other pollutants get removed.

Since the late 1990s, 23 LFDs have been operating under the ground and under the radar to improve Santa Monica Bay’s (SMB) water quality. They are the unsung heroes of the ongoing urban runoff pollution challenge, working tirelessly during the summer months when the level of polluted flow is relatively low, to improve water quality at LA beaches. Behind the scenes, these low flow diversions quietly re-direct polluted storm water runoff from our storm drains into our sanitary sewer system, keeping the pollution from ever reaching beaches. Once in LA’s sewer system, the polluted runoff flows to the Hyperion Wastewater Treatment Plant where it is treated before being discharged into the bay. In fact, these low flow diversions have been so instrumental in improving water quality that Heal the Bay noted in their 2007 Beach Report that LFD projects resulted in long stretches of beaches in our area receiving consistently good grades. This recognition was a first in Heal the Bay’s history.

However, like everything in this tech age, there’s always room for an upgrade and the LFDs are no different. The City is taking advantage of funding available from Proposition O, the Clean Water Bond passed in 2004, to improve eight City-owned and operated low flow diversions to be able to re-route polluted storm water flow to sanitary sewers for treatment year round during dry weather. These upgrades have been in progress since October of 2009. Several of which will be completed later this summer with the remaining LFD upgrades to be complete and operational by fall 2010.

These improvements will translate into increased capacity and system reliability that means we can prevent any kind of polluted dry-weather flow, summer or winter, from flowing to the ocean making life in and around Santa Monica Bay life a little easier and our coast a little clearer.

The Ripples Behind and the Waves Ahead - A Message from the Stormwater Program Manager

It’s hard to believe that I’ll commemorate a decade with the Stormwater Program in 2010. It’s even harder to consider that Los Angeles’ Stormwater Program celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Time sure does fly!

The City’s Program has grown significantly in the past 20 years. In 1990, the original staff of the then-named Stormwater Group was comprised of just two people working to meet early stormwater regulations that were the result of the 1987 amendment to the 1972 Clean Water Act. Since those early days, the division has matured to more than 80 dedicated staff members implementing a comprehensive watershed protection program that includes education, engineering, enforcement, research and development, monitoring, and conducting scientific studies. And, in the process, the program has become one of the national leaders in stormwater management garnering the respect of agencies throughout the country with award winning projects and programs.

Of course, like all programs, we’ve also had our share of challenges, and we are currently facing some daunting issues that will test us for years to come. As our program enters its third decade, we face obstacles that range from multiple and increasingly stricter federal regulations to recent budget deficits that force us to do more and more with fewer resources.

These obstacles, however, are also opportunities for the program to grow and mature. Stricter water quality goals also mean greater impact on the work we do, which in turn speeds up the process to achieving these objectives. This of course, does not come without hard work, but I believe our staff and community partners are up to the challenge.

As we enter this new decade, I’m encouraged by a paradigm shift that I’m seeing and the opportunities afforded by this change. More and more in this era of drought, people are realizing that rainwater is a resource that can be used or infiltrated back into decreasing groundwater supplies, instead of a liability that needs to be diverted and removed as quickly as possible. The overwhelming residential support we’ve enjoyed with our pilot Rainwater Harvesting Program and the recent collaborative work we’ve done with the community to craft a workable yet flexible Low Impact Development (LID) ordinance demonstrates the desire on the part of City residents to do their part in conserving this most precious resource.

In this issue of the LA Stormwater newsletter (sign up here), we’ll take a glance back at the last 20 years and provide a look ahead at the future of the City’s program. You’ll enjoy interviews with a few of the Stormwater Survivors, those dedicated staff members who have been with the City’s Program through most of its history. We’ll also feature an article by guest-writer Mark Gold, President of Heal the Bay, who will provide an environmnetalist's viewpoint. Lastly, we’ll issue a challenge to you – the community – to make a few simple rainwater resolutions as we enter a new decade.

Even after 20 years, the solution to clean water remains the same. It calls for a team effort, with the City and community working together to bring about the change we all want – cleaner creeks, rivers, lakes and beaches for our families and children.

To all, a healthy and prosperous 2010!

Best Regards,





Shahram Kharaghani, Stormwater Program Manager

Click here to view all of the articles in Issue 9 of the LA Stormwater newsletter.

Heal the Bay's Executive Director Looks Back on the Stormwater Program's 20 Years

by Mark Gold

After 20 years, the City of Los Angeles’ stormwater program is at a crossroads.

The program has come a long way since its beginnings in the early nineties as a result of the Hyperion consent decree and new regulations under the federal Clean Water Act and the first countywide stormwater permit. The City has done a superb job on stormwater education for students, businesses and the public. During the early 1990s, we worked closely with the City on our Gutter Patrol program where volunteers helped stencil tens of thousands of catch basins all over the city. Today, the City runs the program and you can’t find a catch basin in the city without a “No Dumping” stencil.

Los Angeles has led the way on clean beaches by installing about a dozen dry weather runoff diversions. I still remember the press event with Mayor Bradley for the first diversion at the Pico-Kenter stormdrain at Santa Monica Beach. Dry weather runoff diversions have transformed numerous “F” beaches on Heal the Bay’s Beach Report Card into “A” beaches during the summer months. Soon, thanks to Proposition O funds for year round dry weather runoff diversions, most LA beaches will soon get “A”s for the entire year. Runoff diversions have protected the public health of millions of swimmers and helped restore the image of beautiful and safe Santa Monica Bay beaches.

Another milestone for the City was the passage of Proposition O. Over 76% of the public voted for the 500 million dollar measure to clean up our rivers, lakes, beaches and bays by reducing stormwater pollution. Proposition O is providing the capital funds needed to divert dry weather runoff, clean up Machado Lake and Echo Park Lake, capture and infiltrate runoff for local water supply in the Valley, and infiltrate stormwater in the Santa Monica Bay watershed to help clean up the Bay.

Although the pace of the projects isn’t as fast as I would have hoped, the vast majority of Proposition O projects are good projects that reduce runoff pollution and provide other benefits such as greening the City, reducing flood risk and augmenting local water supplies. Unfortunately, Proposition O only pays for building the projects themselves. The funds can not be used for operations and maintenance so the new projects are actually adding to the watershed protection programs ongoing budget difficulties.

Recently, the City has changed their approach to stormwater pollution prevention. They’ve always talked a good game on watershed protection, but in the last few years, there has been a transformation that has gone beyond calling the department the Watershed Protection Division. The division developed a Water Quality Compliance Master Plan that takes an engineering approach to linking watershed planning with water quality compliance.

The City is about to pass a far reaching Low Impact Development ordinance that will require new and redevelopment to capture and reuse or infiltrate 100% of the runoff generated from a three quarter inch storm. The ordinance will make developers, business and homeowners partners in efforts to reduce stormwater pollution and augment local water supplies by helping to create a green infrastructure in the City. I hope that the City will move forward with green streets and alleys requirements that will further the move towards Mayor Villaraigosa’s vision of making LA the cleanest, greenest major city in the country.

Finally, the City was an innovator in stormwater program funding. Back in the early 1990s, the City created a Stormwater Pollution Abatement Charge (SPAC) to pay for new programs. Unfortunately, thanks to Proposition 218, the City Council lost the ability to increase SPAC fees without a two thirds vote of the electorate. As a result, the SPAC has not been increased in nearly 20 years. The cost of the City’s stormwater and watershed protection program should be approximately $120 million a year, yet the SPAC generates less than $30 million a year. Even today’s stormwater and watershed protection programs cost the City about $60 million a year, so there the program always has to compete for general funds: an extremely difficult task in a poor economy.

Despite two decades of progress and the vision of Mayor Villaraigosa, the promise of Los Angeles’ efforts to transform into a City with a green infrastructure that protects our fundamental right to clean water is in jeopardy unless we do something to solve the funding crisis. Clean water is a necessity, a legal requirement and a right and is not something to be sacrificed during tough economic times. The challenge is, will we be bold enough to move forward on the promise and vision of a green LA with clean water, or will we maintain the status quo.

Mark Gold is president of Heal the Bay, a Santa Monica-based environmental organization.

Click here to view all of the articles in Issue 9 of the LA Stormwater newsletter.

LOS ANGELES AND EL SEGUNDO CELEBRATE A COMPLETED WATER QUALITY PROJECT

Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl of District 11, El Segundo Mayor Kelly McDowell, Public Works Commissioner Paula Daniels and other dignitaries celebrated today the completion of the Imperial Highway Sunken Median Stormwater Best Management Practices (BMP) project. A gathering was held on Imperial Highway between Pershing Drive and Main Street, and was concluded with theplanting of a tree named "Fred" by Tree Musketeers youth manager Julian Poyourow.

The project was conceptualized by the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation as one of the 32 stormwater improvements funded by the voter-approved Proposition O Clean Water Bond. The project installed a biofiltration system comprised of vegetated swales and an infiltration trench that will collect runoff from a 7.5-acre area and remove bacteria, oil, trash and suspended solids from stormwater that would otherwise be discharged to Santa Monica Bay. Shrubs and trees were also planted in the project area, and an automated irrigation system that uses recycled water was installed.

For more information about this project, visit www.eng.lacity.org/iuprs or call the Department of Public Works, Public Affairs Office at (213) 978-0333. To learn about the Tree Musketeers, see http://www.treemusketeers.org/.