The Potrero Canyon Citizens Committee worked overtime last week to meet the City of L.A.’s Friday application deadline to apply for Proposition O funds. Called the “Clean Water, Ocean, River, Beach, Bay, Storm Water Clean-up Measure,” Prop. O was approved in November 2004 and will help Los Angeles comply with strict federal guidelines to clean up its storm drain and runoff system. The $500-million bond measure will fund projects that are designed to clean and treat storm water before rain, irrigation and other sources wash the pollution into the ocean and rivers. The funds, appropriated from property taxes, are also available for new storm-water treatment methods, pollution prevention technologies, habitat and wetlands restoration, water conservation, creating green space and drinking water protection. The money can also be used to remove trash from the Los Angeles River and Ballona Creek, and for projects that help keep bacteria and other pollutants from flowing into coastal waters. The projects will have independent financial audits and a citizen advisory committee will be involved in project selection. The Potrero Canyon Park Runoff Collection Cistern Project is requesting $756,000 from the city. The project would capture runoff that currently goes into two storm drains that enter into a main drain buried under Potrero Canyon fill. This main drain discharges untreated water into Santa Monica Bay. Ideally, this water would instead be collected, treated and stored in a 100,000-gallon cistern on a 2.7-acre pad of land just below the Recreation Center. The replenished ground water, known as “gray water,” would be used to irrigate the proposed new park and riparian corridor. Under this plan, what runoff does reach the ocean “will at least be clean,” said committee chairman George Wolfberg. While the water will still need to meet minimum water standards “it will not be suitable for drinking. The project will help increase public awareness of urban runoff and its beneficial reuse for irrigation,” Wolfberg told the Palisadian-Post on Tuesday. “We think it will also help reduce flooding and erosion in the canyon.” The four-page application, prepared with the help of committee member Leonard Horn and the aid of two consultants from the Department of Sanitation, makes clear that the funds will be used to simply acquire the cistern and not to complete the park. Still left unanswered is who would be responsible for maintaining the underground cistern. At its December 14 meeting, the Potrero committee also discussed the status of the pending sale of the two lots on Alma Real to help finance the completion of the decades-long fill project. Pam Emerson, representing the California Coastal Commission, said that while the commission has received the city’s request to proceed with the sale, at this time it is not clear “if any of the lots are stable or even how many there are,” said Emerson. “A map I have indicates there are 22 city-owned lots.” Horn produced a list indicating there are a total of 35 lots, with an estimated market value of $34,430,000. Emerson indicated that she did not foresee the commission approving the sale of the two Alma Real lots before February or March. The next committee meeting will be held January 18 at 7:15 in the old gym at the Recreation Center.
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