A $1 million project to replace concrete in the Arroyo Seco flood channel near Highland Park should be completed by the end of the year.  

The L.A. County Board of Supervisors approved the project in early 2010 as part of the county's long-term flood risk management project. Construction began in June to repair cracks in the concrete slabs that could have allowed water to seep under them.

The natural passage of water eroded the concrete, forming the cracks. County public works officials warn that water flowing underneath the large concrete slabs lining the channel could shift an entire block, resulting in a much more expensive fix and possibly compromising the stream's ability to channel flood waters.

Despite the dry climate in L.A. (the National Weather Service reports that average rainfall in the Los Angeles area is less than 20 inches, less than half that of New York) the area is actually a Mediterranean climate and is very prone to flooding.  It happens in Italy, it happens in Chile, and it happens here in L.A. 

Two floods during the 1930's killed about 150 people in the L.A. area. The second of the two floods caused $40 million in damages.  Those floods prompted the creation of flood control channels that turned our rivers into concrete channels. After 1938, L.A's rivers stopped looking like rivers as a result.

Posts by some members of the L.A. community on a local blog questioned why there couldn't be some improvements made to the stream, rather than simply reconstructing the middle of the channel.  Others wondered about the project's value.  The suggestion of making the river's appearance more appealing or making it more eco-friendly is not an entirely new one. But improvement efforts may be complicated by the construction that has taken place around and over the channels since they were built.

The flood control channels are in a constant state of maintenance, with teams of field engineers regularly inspecting them for damage. A senior engineer then reports to the board of supervisors that repairs need to be made to a specific stretch of the system.

About two million parcel owners within flood control districts located around L.A.'s major rivers pay extra in property taxes to fund the flood channel projects. The Santa Clara River, the L.A. River, and the San Gabriel River are at the center of three large districts.
The county collects about $230 million annually for the flood control districts, and about 43 percent goes toward operation and maintenance, according to Kerjon Lee, a spokesperson for the L.A. County Department of Public Works. 

Of the remaining money, about 12 percent goes to general services, 25 percent goes to repair and rehabilitation and 20 percent is put toward to capital improvements, planning and Clean Water Act compliance.

To reach reporter Braden Holly, click here.

Sign up for Neon Tommy's weekly e-mail newsletter.