Cities that drain into the Los Angeles River – causing it to be extremely polluted and the number one source of Long Beach’s poor ocean quality – will receive $10 million in Stimulus funding to clean water before it enters the river, the City Manager’s office announced today.
It’s generally acknowledged that Long Beach’s ocean water quality is so poor mainly because of the massive amount of pollutants and debris carried down from northern cities through the LA River. Litigation had been explored in the past in an attempt to force those cities to clean the water they input into the river, but was eventually dropped – mainly because it was impossible to prove that specific pollutants were coming from which cities, and because the process would have been costly. But the $10 million in funds marks the first concrete solution to cleaning up water before it’s sent to the river.
Will the $10 million be distributed evenly to all 16 cities, or differently based on need? If evenly, it would amount to about $625,000 per city – which is more than enough to produce effective results. Take, for example, the City of Long Beach’s efforts that were outlined in a May report from environmental group Heal The Bay, which called out Long Beach for spending $300,000 to improve the water the City sends into the river. With fifteen other cities each armed with twice that amount, how much improvement could we see in Long Beach’s water quality?
Long Beahc used that money to insert nearly 2,000 SmartSponge filters into more than 500 drains citywide to strain pollutants from the water entering stormdrains, and eventually, the LA RIver and Pacific Ocean. They also inserted blue gates that prevented large debris like roots and thick mud from entering the system.
The full press release from the City Manager’s office is provided below:
Los Angeles River Cities to Receive Stimulus Funds to Clean Up the LA River
The California State Water Board has awarded $10 million in Stimulus funds to help 16 cities that drain into the LA River capture their trash before it enters the LA River. The funding will be administered by the LA Gateway Region Integrated Regional Water Management Authority (LA Gateway Authority), who will distribute the funds to the 16 cities in the Gateway Region that drain into the Los Angeles River.
The grant will fund trash-collection devices that can be inserted into storm drains to capture trash. The City of Long Beach has successfully installed hundreds of these devices already using other funding sources, proving that the technology works and can be easily implemented.
“The vast majority of the trash that ends up on our beaches is generated by the upstream cities, and these funds will make a huge difference in stopping trash before it even enters the Los Angeles River. This is a great step in the right direction,” said Mayor Bob Foster.
The LA Gateway Authority received the maximum $10 million grant, and this project received nearly a quarter of the total funding available for new urban stormwater projects. The $10 million grant will outfit approximately 3,750 catchbasins, or more than 40 percent of the catchbasins that currently dump into the LA River. In an average year, the City of Long Beach picks up more than 3,000 tons of trash deposited on the beach by the LA River.
“I want to wholeheartedly thank the Gateway Cities Council of Government, all of the upstream cities, and our legislative delegation for all coming together to support this regional project that will have such a positive effect on Long Beach,” said City Manager Pat West.
The cities that will receive funding include Bell, Bell Gardens, Commerce, Compton, Cudahy, Downey, Huntington Park, Long Beach, Lynwood, Maywood, Montebello, Paramount, Pico Rivera, Signal Hill, South Gate and Vernon.
Also, check out this story I wrote in June about some of the City’s efforts to send cleaner water into the Los Angeles River. Hopefully other cities will take notes!