A draft environmental impact report offers a closer look at plans to add new infrastructure and a decorative water feature to the southwest corner of MacArthur Park.

The MacArthur Lake stormwater capture project, which would be funded by a $20-million allocation from the County's Measure W, is being implemented as a joint venture between two city agencies - L.A. Sanitation & Environment and the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks. Plans call for building new underground equipment and using existing infrastructure to capture, treat, and move captured stormwater and urban runoff through MacArthur Park's iconic lake.

View looking south toward 7th StreetStudio-MLA

Below Lake Street where it intersects with an alley parallel to 7th Street, plans call for building a new structure to divert stormwater from an existing drain into a new pretreatment unit and pump station, which would remove pollutants that would otherwise flow towards Ballona Creek. From there, water would be routed into a stormwater treatment unit within MacArthur Park, then released into the lake until it reaches capacity. After that point, water would be returned into the sewer system through a new drain at 7th and Grand View Streets.

At the surface, this change would be represented by a cascading 0.15-acre water feature, outlined by pedestrian paths, seating areas, a boardwalk, shade trees, and interpretive signage. The water feature would be located on a sloped portion of the park currently occupied by grass, walkways, and one tree which would be removed and replaced with 10 new trees.

Site planStudio-MLA

Studio-MLA is designing the project, according to plans and renderings included with the environmental study.

Construction of the project is expected to last for a period of approximately 22 months, although an exact start date is not specified in the study.

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