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LA Gateway Authority awards contract to install trash capture devices in the storm drains of 16 gateway cities

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 14, 2009 at 6:06 am

storm drain LAFrom the Long Beach Water Department, this press release:

“PARAMOUNT, CA – Yesterday, at the board meeting of the Los Angeles Gateway Region Integrated Water Management Joint Powers Authority (Gateway IRWM), a contract was awarded for a project to install thousands of trash and debris capture devices in all of the storm drains in the 16 Gateway Cities that are part of the LA River watershed.

The project, known as the Gateway Drain Catch Basin Retrofit Project, will assist Gateway Cities in fully complying with the LA Regional Water Quality Control Board’s Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for trash by installing approximately 12,000 full-capture catch basin trash and debris systems within the publicly-held catch basins throughout 16 cities in the Gateway region. The project was made possible by a $10 million grant of stimulus funds under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA). The Gateway IRWM was awarded the stimulus funds by the State Water Resources Control Board. It is estimated that the project will eliminate more than 800,000 pounds of waste annually from accumulating in storm drains that would otherwise wash out to the LA River and eventually make its way into the ocean.

The 16 Gateway Cities that will receive the storm drain retrofits are: Bell, Bell Gardens, Commerce, Compton, Cudahy, Downey, Huntington Park, Long Beach, Lynwood, Maywood, Montebello, Paramount, Pico Rivera, Signal Hill, South Gate and Vernon.

The project went out for bid on November 3rd. Three bids were received, with the winning bid of $5 million being submitted by the Steve Bubalo Construction Company. The project could start as early as the beginning of December. Once work has begun, it may take nine to twelve months before all the storm drains have been retrofitted with their new devices. Because the project is able to be completed at a cost that is only half of the $10 million in total stimulus funds that were received, any remaining funds will be made available on an agreed upon pro-rated basis to Gateway Cities that want to install Automatic Retractable Screens (ARS) in addition to the Connector Pipe Screens (CPS) that will be installed in all of the storm drains.

The Gateway IRWM received an additional bit of good news yesterday when it received a letter from California Department of Water Resources (DWR) Director Lester A. Snow, who informed the organization that it had been approved as an officially recognized state IRWM body. The group’s initial application was denied in September, but a concerted effort by a number of the Gateway region’s state and local elected representatives convinced the DWR to reverse its earlier decision. The Gateway IRWM will now be able to compete on its own for state-funded grants, which will be a huge benefit to the entire Gateway region.

The Biennial Election of Officers for the LA Gateway IRWM also took place during yesterday’s board meeting. The new appointees that will serve for the next two years are:
• Board Chair – Chris Cash, City of Paramount
• Vice Chair – Adriana Figueroa, City of Norwalk
• Secretary/Treasurer – Desi Alvarez, City of Downey
• Lead Agency – City of Downey

The LA Gateway IRWM is a joint powers authority of the cities of Cerritos, Downey, Lakewood, Long Beach, Norwalk, Paramount, Pico Rivera, Santa Fe Springs, Signal Hill, South Gate, Vernon and Whittier, the Southeast Water Coalition, and the Central Basin Municipal Water District.

November 14, 2009 · Filed Under Stormwater & Urban Runoff

Comments

One Response to “LA Gateway Authority awards contract to install trash capture devices in the storm drains of 16 gateway cities”

  1. Lakewood Accountability Action Group on November 16th, 2009 12:30 pm

    And just who is going to clean out these catch basins once a week and all during a rain storm so they dont overflow and cause flooding. also where is the money coming from for that cleaning?

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