Sepulveda Basin Wetland Project Is Scaled Back

Plans to filter treated sewage in the Sepulveda Basin have been scaled back from 300 acres to 61 acres because of opposition to the loss of recreation area, Los Angeles city officials said Monday.

A study concluded that the smaller wetland project would allow the Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in Van Nuys to meet goals for reducing nitrogen in treated waste water dumped into the Los Angeles River, said Adel Hagekhalil, project manager for the Los Angeles Sanitation Bureau.

The $10-million project would put up to 10 million gallons of treated sewage each day through wetlands and vegetation that would naturally filter out nitrogen before the water is blended with other treated effluent from the plant as it goes to the river.

“Hearing the community and the concerns they have about losing recreation space, we decided to look at an alternative,” Hagekhalil said. “We think this is a compromise that addresses what the community wants and provides us what we need while enhancing what is being done in the basin.”

The project is slated for land now used for corn farming south of Burbank Boulevard and north of the Sepulveda Dam.

The decision to scale back the project’s size was welcomed by Bob Joyce of the Valley Flyers model airplane club, which objected to the original proposal.

“This smaller area would not affect our flying at all,” he said.

But others who fear that flooding part of the undeveloped basin would take away land for recreation and create a smelly, mosquito-infested swamp were not mollified.

“Homeowners of Encino still has major objections to that,” said Gerald Silver, the group’s president. He said people who live close to the undeveloped basin remain unconvinced the smaller project will reduce the nuisance of odors, mosquitoes and birds.

“They said there would be no odor when they built the Tillman plant, and they had to go through years of re-engineering because of the smell,” Silver said.

Some environmentalists, including Rosemarie White, president of the Canada Goose Project, also remain opposed to the loss of foraging ground.

“The original plan was absolutely not acceptable,” White said. “Even though it has been scaled back, right now I do not agree with any project being done near the wildlife areas.”

Hearings will be held before a final decision is made by the Public Works Board.

The project was proposed in July to help the city meet state standards for reducing nitrogen levels in the 65 million gallons of treated effluent dumped daily by the Tillman plant into the Los Angeles River. The city could build a new treatment plant, but that would cost about $100 million.

The original plan to use 300 acres--20% of the Sepulveda Basin--was scrapped after a study concluded that it would infringe on recreation, Hagekhalil said.

The study found that the smaller project would allow the city to meet standards when combined with some retooling of the Tillman plant.

State and federal grants are expected to pay much of the cost of the project.

A consultant hired by the city found the project is technically feasible and recommended that it be designed to avoid hurting nearby communities, Hagekhalil said. For instance, mosquito fish will be used to keep down the population of insects, he said.

The wetlands will not create an odor problem because most of the water will have gone through three levels of treatment, Hagekhalil said.

Responded Silver, “I don’t buy any of that.”

He contends that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers leased the 1,500-acre basin to the city for flood control and recreation, not sewage treatment.