Machado Lake and Wilmington Drain

In November 2004, voters of the City of Los Angeles passed the Proposition O - Clean Water Bond, authorizing $500 million of general obligation bonds for projects that protect public health and the environment by cleaning pollution, including bacteria and trash, in the City's watercourses, rivers, lakes, beaches, and ocean. These projects assist the City of Los Angeles in meeting federal Clean Water Act requirements.

Proposition O - Clean Water Bond also funds improvements to protect water quality, provide flood protection, increase water conservation, provide habitat protection, and create open space. The bond allows the City to purchase property and improve municipal properties for projects that:

Protect rivers, lakes, beaches, and the ocean.
Conserve and protect drinking water, and other water sources.
Reduce flooding and use neighborhood parks to decrease polluted runoff.
Capture, clean up, and reuse stormwater.
Machado Lake Integrated Water Quality and Habitat Improvement Program incorporates two of the 33 Proposition O funded projects that have either been completed, are in the design or construction or are still to come to clean and improve water quality.

Machado Lake and the Wilmington Drain form an interconnected open space near Wilmington and Harbor City. Machado Lake is located in the Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park. The lake and park are important recreational and natural area resources for Harbor and South Bay residents who have used the area for picnics, fishing, bird watching, boating, canoeing, and hiking.

The Wilmington Drain is a channelized stream that conveys urban runoff and stormwater to Machado Lake and ultimately to the Los Angeles Harbor. Originally a natural stream, most of it is now concrete-lined. It is currently managed by Los Angeles County as a flood control channel. The lake and drain have both been identified as impaired water bodies as a result of pollution in stormwater and urban runoff flowing from its 15,553-acre watershed. The Wilmington Drain feeds more than half of the water that flows into Machado Lake, so its water quality is of great importance.

The City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works project team is committed to keeping the community updated on the latest information about the Wilmington Drain and Machado Lake Ecosystem Rehabilitation project. We encourage you to bookmark this page, and tell your neighbors about it! It's the easiest way to know what's going on with the City's plans to improve and beautify the lake. You can also submit your questions about the lake improvements to the project team at bpw.pao@lacity.org. We will do our best to respond to you as soon as possible.