Canyon Stormwater Project Ready for Concrete Pour

Concrete is ready to be poured in the giant hole at to set the foundation for an underground 1.25-million gallon detention tank.

It's part of the two-year, $8 million from the Proposition O Clean Water Bond to remove bacteria and other pollutants from urban runoff reaching and nearby coastal waters, according to the Los Angeles Department of Public Works.

DPW Public Information Officer Michelle Vargas said Thursday workers are about two weeks away from pouring the concrete after a long summer keeping on schedule. They just have to do a few more safety standards before laying the foundation.

"People will see it," she said.

Frequent commuters who use Temescal Canyon Road have encountered the lane reductions near the project. Vargas said they expect one bike and one car lane to be open at all times in both directions and they will free up lanes as needed.

As a city agency, the DPW is charged to deal with the environmental impacts of urban runoff, and with this project, Vargas said they will intercept the runoff during first flush, collect it and clean it for beneficial re-use.

"So if you live on Sunset [Boulevard], and when there’s urban run-off when it does rain, the water does flow currently down Temescal Canyon Road to the ocean," Vargas said. "What we’re doing is that with this project when it does rain, a mechanism triggers, and diverts runoff in that pipe under Temescal Canyon to a 1.25-million gallon detention tank."

Before the water flow gets diverted, Vargas said their culvert, with a centrifugal force, removes trash, solids and visible waste from the water, and then goes into the detention tank. It's held there for three days and then pumped back into the sewer system.

Vargas noted that once the tank is full, the stormwater bypasses the project's culvert because by then, it would not be the first flush, which carries the heaviest pollutants. She said it will run out to Santa Monica Bay, serving the purpose for flood management.

For all updates, including a newsletter, about the project, click here. For another resource on Prop O projects, click here.

The project is on target for completion in fall 2013.