A long-in-the-works project that would put a functioning water wheel on the Los Angeles River is underway.
The roughly 50-foot-tall wheel received its final permit—an elusive one from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers—in September, and began installing the needed pipeline in the river bed shortly after, says Michael Gagan, a lobbyist shepherding Chinatown-based Metabolic Studio through the approvals process.
Called Bending the River Back Into the City, the project will churn with water from the river, siphoning a fraction of it out of the waterway, cleaning that water via “an artificial treatment wetland” to meet cleanliness standards for irrigation, and then piping it to Los Angeles State Historic Park and the recently opened Albion Riverside Park and Downey Recreation Center so it can water plants and other landscaping there.
“It’s actually a piece of civil engineering that’s disguised as an artwork, because that was the only way to get it permitted,” Metabolic Studio founder Lauren Bon told Sci-ARC in October.
Bending the River is slated to be installed just west of the river, between the Broadway and Spring Street bridges. The location is near the site of an earlier water wheel that, in the 1860s, directed water through the Zanja Madre, the original irrigation channel that brought water to LA back when it was still known as Pueblo de Los Angeles.
Plans for the project to include an inflatable dam were scrapped in favor of one that moved the water via pipes in the river channel, which would leave Army Corps access to the riverbed unimpeded.
The work on the water wheel is on hold for what the Corps considers the “rainy” season, roughly October 15 to April 15. Work will continue in seasonal cycles through 2022, when the wheel is expected to be up and running, according to a report from the city’s Board of Public Works. The water wheel effort has been in progress for at least seven years, and required over 60 “major” approvals and permits, says Gagan.
The water wheel is one of a slew of new additions planned for the banks of the LA River—including new housing, parks, and infrastructure. The highly anticipated ecological restoration planned for an 11-mile stretch of the concrete channel between Downtown and Griffith Park has prompted developers to take interest in the properties along the river’s banks, and has caused a number of riverside communities to begin planning for a future where the neighborhood is a newly hot commodity.
Comments
Judging by the picture of the "river", that giant wheel is going to be spinning awfully slowly.
Maybe a little wheel, like Spinal Tap?
By caseym54 on 11.25.19 2:57pm
It won’t generate electricity?
By myislandXP on 11.25.19 3:33pm
And how much do all of us tax payers have to pay for this nonsense?
By LADude on 11.25.19 3:45pm
It’s going to capture water in the river that normally goes to the sea, treat it, and then use it at three public parks. We need to come up with other creative ways to capture water from the river and other tributaries.
By mrxman on 11.26.19 12:56pm
We could also capture sofas, for the homeless.
By caseym54 on 11.30.19 4:11pm
None. This project is being paid for by the Annenberg Foundation.
By I Like Buildings on 11.26.19 1:42pm
You’re ruining it. People want to complain, not be informed. C’mon man.
By LosFeliz$ean on 11.26.19 3:59pm
Somebody’s cranky!
By Greyvagabond on 11.26.19 3:46pm
2022. For a water wheel. Granted I can’t pin this one solely on California as it looks like the corps of engineers are the ones behind the delays and they don’t seem like they move very quickly. I’m sure California laws don’t help either.
Either way this will be a nice addition. It would be cool if they had that empty riverbed through the park flowing with water year round. I’ve walked through the during heavy rains and it looks very pretty when it has flowing water.
By Campbell Sadeghy on 11.25.19 3:59pm
Any project dealing with water rights like this one are just monumentally difficult. As the old saying goes, "Whisky is for drinking, water is for fighting."
By I Like Buildings on 11.26.19 1:38pm
There are few areas of the law more maddening and unintelligible than trying to understand water rights in California.
By disqusted on 11.26.19 1:57pm
if we were made of cellophane, we’d all get stinking drunk much faster
By Danny Beta on 12.01.19 12:51pm
There have been waterwheels on the river before…way back in the agriculture days and in art projects since. LA distinguishes itself by its willingness to sell its cultural and public space to the highest bidder.
By bill bankster on 11.25.19 8:23pm
hobo tumbler.
By theolder310 on 11.26.19 11:04am
LAME COMMENT.
By mrxman on 11.26.19 12:55pm
Very cool. Going to capture water in the river that normally goes to the sea, treat it, and then use it at three public parks. We need to come up with other creative ways to capture water from the river and other tributaries.
By mrxman on 11.26.19 12:54pm
So excited about this.
It’s taken vision and extreme dedication to get they the 60+ regulations and 22 agencies to make this happen.
And to those cynics out there who don’t see value in providing water to our public spaces. Well, I’m trying to be like Pete, so I’ll just be nice and say that it is being funded by the Annenberg Foundation. So let’s just celebrate this—a new piece of infrastructure that will not only provide valuable water to local parks, but will edu ate and entertain as well.
By surfnspy on 11.26.19 3:23pm
Pete?
By LosFeliz$ean on 11.26.19 3:31pm
I tried to find plans/diagrams for this project and found the video showing the artists’ studio and scale model. I still don’t really understand what’s going on with this project, but it seems interesting.
By SC310 on 11.27.19 9:17am
I hope the project is more coherent than the website that they directed me to above. Visual communication is so important these days!
By Eahostudio on 11.27.19 2:05pm
Who thinks this stuff up? And then who thinks its worth 7 years effort just to get it permitted? There isnt a homeless person somewhere, or a starving kid that could use a sandwich? Nope, stupid wheel is a big priority.
By iONu on 11.28.19 12:57am
this coincides nicely with the other 1860’s throwbacks here in LA, like typhoid fever and bubonic plague
By TheLastWhiteManInSouthCentral on 12.01.19 12:46pm