Colorado Lagoon Continues Clean Up

The Colorado Lagoon Restoration Project will most likely receive almost $4 million in grants at tonight's 5 p.m. City Council meeting to continue the clean up of this local backyard beach.

These are grants that have been hard to come by in recent years, especially after State-funded grants were "frozen" in December 2008 during the height of the economic crisis. And the entire project is essentially being funded as it goes, with only $16 million of the required $25 million accounted for. Tonight's proposal includes $3,300,000 from the State Water Resources Control Board and $690,997 from the State Coastal Conservancy.

Historically part of the Los Cerritos Wetlands and once a popular swimming destination, the Colorado Lagoon is now one of the most polluted beaches in California, according to Heal the Bay, a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring the Santa Monica Bay. In 2002 the state of California designated the Lagoon an "impaired water body," and with prompting by the non-profit Friends of the Colorado Lagoon, a restoration feasibility study was completed in 2004. This was the beginning of a long-term project aimed at improving the Lagoon's water quality and native habitat.

This set of grants will specifically target the next part of the restoration process, which includes the dredging, treatment and disposal of contaminated sediment that has accumulated over time. In perhaps a groundbreaking collaboration, the contaminants will be disposed of at the Port of Long Beach disposal facility in October 2011. Dredging would begin this fall.

Completed in December 2010, one phase of the project redirected low flow urban runoff into the sanitary sewer system. Other future project phases will include reshaping the Lagoon edge to allow for additional habitat ranges, and removing the north shore roadway, parking lot, picnic area and restroom.

The meeting will also vote to approve further agreements with the construction company assigned to the job.

Other items on the agenda:

• Sushi of Naples is applying for an alcohol license.
• Councilman Gary DeLong supports a measure to establish a system for residents to opt out of receiving physical copies of the Yellow Pages in order to cut down on unnecessary paper waste.