CITY OF LOS ANGELES
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS

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Project Information from the Bureau of Engineering

City Sewers Future Construction

Central Outfall Sewer Rehabilitation Project

The City is getting ready to repair a major, 100-year old sewer that is located in Los Angeles and Inglewood. The Central Outfall Sewer Rehabilitation Project (COS) construction will begin in 2009 and continue into 2012. This project will result in vital improvements to preserve public works infrastructure.

The COS is one of the City’s biggest and oldest sewers, serving a large portion of south and southwest Los Angeles. The section of the COS that will be repaired is 14,400 feet (2.7 miles) long and runs from Parking Lot C at LAX to a point near the intersection of Market St. and Hyde Park Blvd. in Ingle wood. The portion of the sewer in Los Angeles is 8,600 feet long while the portion of the sewer in Inglewood is 5,800 feet long.

The 60 by 73-inch, brick-lined sewer, built in 1904, is deteriorating and needs to be rehabilitated to make it reliable so it maintains structural integrity, has adequate capacity, and does not release spills or odors. The repairs will include cleaning the entire sewer and installing new sewer pipe. Workers and equipment will get into the sewer through holes that will be dug in the ground, called access pits. Most pits are located away from areas where people live and work; however, due to the need to get into the sewer at specific, critical locations, some pit sites must be placed near residential and business areas.

Overall neighborhood construction impacts will be reduced, compared to projects that are built by digging along the entire sewer alignment, because most construction activities will only take place in or near the pits. Construction at the pits will include stringent mitigation measures to manage noise, odor, dust, hours of operation, traffic, and access.