Public works officials in Los Angeles have drafted a $3 billion plan to upgrade the city’s storm water, water treatment and sewer systems.
According to the Los Angeles Daily News, the city expects to add about 700,000 residents in the next 14 years, which will generate 68 million more gallons of wastewater per day.
A good portion of the blueprint is dedicated to upgrading sewer lines and expanding the wastewater treatment plant in the valley.
The plan has already been put into question by some of the neighborhoods where the sewer lines have been proposed, such as Burbank.
The Bureau of Sanitation is expected to present the plans to the Los Angeles Board of Public Works on Wednesday, October 4. Officials are estimating that the City Council will approve the plan by the end of October.
The upgrades will be built over the next 20 years.
To come up with this plan, the Department of Water and Power teamed up with Bureau of Sanitation. The two groups then put together a panel of homeowners, business owners, environmentalists and activists. The process took over four years.
Under the plan, treated wastewater would be used for irrigation. The city also would use vacant lots, parks and abandoned alleys in the East Valley as green space where storm water and urban runoff could filter down through the soil and replenish groundwater.
The first major projects outlined in the plan include $660 million to expand the Tillman Water Reclamation plant in the Sepulveda Basin, and the installation of three new sewer lines from the southern end of the San Fernando Valley to East Los Angeles.
Source: Los Angeles Daily News