Echo Park Lake Rehab EIR to go before City tomorrow

View from the top of the Clinton Stairs

April 2011 is just around the corner, and you know what that means – the beginning of a two-year long and very stinky Echo Park Lake Rehabilitation project.

Tomorrow is the day the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) goes to the City Council Energy and Environment Committee for review. It’s difficult to tell whether or not the final EIR makes Echo Park activists happy -the nearly 500 page EIR is quite complicated and difficult to interpret (to fully understand everything you’d probably need a degree in City Planning, Architecture, and Environmental Policy of some sort). Residents with concerns had until August 30, 2010 to submit comments for review prior to the final EIR.

You can download the Final EIR (if you dare, the file is quite large) by clicking here.

Pollution and much-needed updates to the filtration systems are behind the Prop O funded rehab project, which is scheduled for April 2011. They will drain the 13 acre lake and haul out approximately 50,000 cubic feet of soil from the bottom, replace the lake liner, rebuild the wetlands, and replant other vegetation (including the lotus bed). They filtration systems will also be updated, as the lake does collect water runoff from the city, and will help reduce the amount of city water used to keep the lake levels high.

Wildlife activists and bird lovers have been concerned with the state of the migratory birds once the lake is drained. A compromise has been reached, and the engineers will include four temporary pools for migratory birds.