The LA Times reports that the EPA has declared the entire concrete-lined Los Angeles River channel “traditional navigable waters,” a key qualification to receiving Clean Water Act protections throughout the river’s 834-square-mile urban watershed.
Poet and writer Lewis MacAdams, founder of Friends of the Los Angeles River, said “This is an important day, one we’ve been working toward for years. It is a day when the EPA has essentially redefined the L.A. River and its values. In other words, starting today, a flood control channel is only one of its many characteristics.”
U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said “We want the L.A. River to demonstrate how urban waterways across the country can serve as assets in building stronger neighborhoods, attracting new businesses and creating new jobs.”
Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas subsequently announced the purchase of a four-acre portion of the Compton Creek riverbed from Crystal Casino and Hotel. The stretch of creek bottom been devastated by decades of storm runoff and illegal dumping and is now controlled by the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy.
Tags: Clean Water Act, EPA, la river
RELATED
