Press Releases

Groundbreaking For Stormwater Treatment Device Takes Place At Grand Boulevard

City of Los Angeles Kicks Off the Water Quality Improvement Project Using Filterra® Bioretention Systems

September 15 2008 – Los Angeles, CA - Los Angeles City Councilmember Bill Rosendahl, District 11, City Engineer Gary Lee Moore, and other officials of the City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works joined Venice stakeholders today at a groundbreaking ceremony for the Grand Boulevard Tree Wells, the first City project fully funded by Proposition O funds.

The Grand Boulevard Tree Wells project will install seven Filterra Bioretention Systems with trees at various locations along Grand Boulevard in Venice. The Filterra systems combine landscape plants with an engineered filtration media to capture and remove stormwater runoff pollutants, such as trash and debris, oils and grease, sediments, nutrients, metals and bacteria, prior to discharging treated runoff into local waterways. City of Los Angeles, Bureau of Street Services staff chose Saucer Magnolia trees for the seven stormwater systems to help remove stormwater pollutants while adding nice landscape features into the urban streetscape.

“This is an important day for Filterra with its use in the Prop O Program at the City of Los Angeles”, said William Harris, Western Zone Manager for Filterra Bioretention Systems. “It’s also an important day to Filterra’s future use in other cities and counties throughout Southern California.”

In 2004, the city of Los Angeles approved Proposition O, Clean Water Bond to improve water quality and comply with the Federal Clean Water Act, and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) requirements. The installation of the Filterra systems meets local and federal requirements and will significantly reduce the amount of targeted pollutants discharged into the storm drain system. 

About Filterra Bioretention Systems

Over 2,000 Filterra Bioretention stormwater filtration systems are installed nationwide, each one harnessing nature’s power to treat stormwater runoff through a biological process.  Filterra Bioretention Systems provide an urban solution for Low Impact Development (LID), meeting or exceeding federal and state regulatory guidelines for pollutant removal efficiencies of TSS, phosphorus, nitrogen and bacteria. Filterra is approved in jurisdictions across the U.S, including Maryland MDE, Washington DOE and Virginia DCR.

Filterra Bioretention Systems is a division of Americast, Inc.

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