Letters: A river that runs through L.A.
Re “Reviving the L.A. River,” Editorial, Oct. 17
As I stood at the confluence of the Los Angeles River and Compton Creek recently, I had to remind myself that this concrete channel was in fact a river. I applaud your call for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to embrace an ambitious plan for the river’s revitalization.
But it doesn’t go far enough.
For the past century we have looked to engineers to tame our river. Look at what we have now: a no-go zone for most residents and a conduit to flush pollutants into our bays and onto beaches.
L.A. must look beyond the 11-mile stretch proposed for revitalization to the many hidden channels that lace the region. Doing this, we will fix our water quality problem, improve our water supply, provide Angelenos a place to play and set the city on the path to true sustainability.
Ruskin K. Hartley
Santa Monica
The writer is chief executive of Heal the Bay.
Many times I have enjoyed riding the bike path through the beautiful, verdant Glendale Narrows part of our river. Additional restoration would be a benefit to the city.
However, it must be remembered that the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in Van Nuys dumps more than
23 million gallons of water into the river every day. In this time of drought, we should note that the original plan was to put much of that water into the aquifer beneath the San Fernando Valley.
Twenty three million gallons to keep the river pretty? Maybe it could get by with 3 million gallons instead.
Roy W. Rising
Valley Village
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