New source of water in Griffith Park! (Hands OFF, LADWP.)

George Grace, founder of the Griffith Park Natural History Survey, was also clever enough to find a new stream of water in the park!! (Well, the only stream, actually.) And he didn’t even have to use a divining rod.

There is a subterranean stream under the Toyon landfill (garbage dump) in Griffith Park that the Master Plan Committee recently learned about…but that the Department of Public Works has apparently known about for many years. George sent out an email blast:

 What a great thought, to have a meadow on top of Toyon landfill with a real free flowing stream!

Javier L. Polanco, P.E. of the Department of Public Works wrote:

Yes, the presence of a groundwater stream beneath the Toyon Landfill
is well documented. At this time we are having a geotechnical
consultant perform an engineering feasability study to intercept the
groundwater from hydrogeological formations upstream of the landfill
and restortation of a running stream through Griffith Park below the
landfill. This may be an opportunity to restablish a water resource
through the park and reduce the formation of leachate within the
landfill.

I wrote to ask him for some more information about the discovery of this secret stream of water that is apparently well known to the city. To a city desperate for water. For a park with horrific fires, and no rain for 8 months and counting.  

 Donna, The landfill operated from 1957 to 1985.  There may not have been extensive data at the time as to the groundwater flow characteristics through area. Even so, due to  the complex geologic features beneath and surrounding the canyon it would have been difficult to predict with any level of certainty the path the groundwater would be taking through the site.  In 1981 the a leachate barrier was constructed at the bottom of the landfill to intercept leachate and direct to a discharge sewer line.

…Leachate is formed when intermittent groundwater water flow from the canyon walls come in contact with the buried refuse. We are investigating the possibility of intercepting these groundwater sources upstream of the landfill and potentially diverting it away from the landfill and so it is instead directed through Griffith Park as a low flowing stream.

Leachate is bad, very bad. In other words, to turn this underground water into a stream, and divert it from the landfill crap, where it’s doing scary things, benefits both the park and the DPW. Win-win, yes? According to Cornell:

 Water percolating through landfills produces leachate, which may contain undesirable or toxic chemicals.

Not to mention, can you imagine the smell of this water? Yes, let’s get it far away from the garbage. According to Wiki:

The physical appearance of leachate when it emerges from a typical landfill site is strongly-odoured yellow- or orange-coloured cloudy liquid. The smell is acidic and offensive and may be very pervasive…

Then we get to the show me the money part. Javier writes:

 The cost of either option over a 10 yr. period including capital
and O&M costs range from $1.4M to $1.7M. We don’t have the
capital  or potential funding sources identified at this time to
construct the project.

So let me see: a NEW source of pure wonderful life-giving water for Griffith Park, or a toxic underground stream?

Back in May, muk said the city ONLY has $163 million budget for the parks this year. Huh. Jon Kirk M, your play.

Extra: Kevin Uhrich, writing for LA Citybeat has some more history here.