The Los Angeles River at Long Beach Boulevard, 2000
Photograph by author
PAST, PRESENT, AND POSSIBILITIES
Today the Los Angeles River and its tributaries are artificial from their source in the San Gabriel Mountains to the river's mouth in Long Beach. The course of the river is permanently constrained by concrete channels, designed to move winter storm waters to the ocean as quickly as possible and thereby prevent flooding. Meanwhile, the river's dry season flow is predominately treated wastewater originating at the Donald Tillman Reclamation Plant, not the aquifers under the San Fernando Valley. As a consequence, the region's hydrology is significantly different from its natural, indigenous state.
The Los Angeles River is thus either forgotten or seen as an embarrassment, while the single-minded flood control strategy that has guided the river's development in the past is considered both inadequate and absurd. In the water-hungry and park-poor region defined by the river basin, interest in the river's potential to create regional recreational space and supplement water supplies is increasing.