The Inner Workings of the La Brea Tar Pits Lake Pit

This week the County Board of Supervisors approved a new permanent filtration system for the La Brea Tar Pits Lake Pit, which opens up a little window into the mechanics behind the lake (although nothing about its super bummer tableau). Kerjon Lee of the Department of Public Works explains in the Park La Brea News: "There is an underground pipeline that starts on the west side of the lake and proceeds across the lake to a connecting sewer line on Wilshire, and when there is a storm, the overflow of storm water over-saturates the system, and some of the materials that would normally go into the sewer and be treated end up in the storm drain,?The new system will keep untreated water out of the storm drain, which ends up in Ballona Creek." The project will include a "large vault with purifying equipment" to catch and filter overflow so it can be released into the drainage system, along with a little landscaping around the lake. Work is expected to start in early 2012 and wrap up in May. Until then, there's a temporary system in place. Now when are they going to pull that poor mammoth out??
· Project Keeps Oil and Tar Out of Storm Drains [Park La Brea News]