Local News in Brief : Opening of Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Lake Is Postponed
A wildlife lake and bird sanctuary inside the Sepulveda Basin will not be opened until the end of February because of a delay in obtaining a permit from the state Regional Water Quality Control Board, an official said Monday.
Sheila Murphy, a project manager with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said a meeting scheduled last week to discuss the permit was delayed until Feb. 8 because some participants could not attend. The corps and the city of Los Angeles had hoped to open the lake in January.
Murphy said the lake, which would be accessible only by hiking trails, is ready to be opened as soon as the water permit is granted. If approved by the Water Quality Control Board, the lake will be filled with treated water from the city’s Donald C. Tillman Sewage Treatment Plant.
“The valves are already in,” Murphy said. “We just have to open them up.”
The 11-acre lake is in marshland west of the San Diego Freeway. It was a concession to environmentalists concerned about the loss of 160 undeveloped acres on the other side of the basin to a planned recreation lake and an arts complex.
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