The South Los Angeles Wetland Park-Achieving the Triple Bottom Line--A New Paradigm in Sustainable Public Urban Infrastructure

The 10-acre South Los Angeles Wetland Park is located in Southern California in a historically underserved area of Los Angeles County formerly known as South Central Los Angeles. Completed in 2013, it is a feature project of Proposition O, a program supported by a series of general obligation bonds valued at $500 million. The multibenefit, constructed stormwater-treatment wetland facility was conceived to protect public health by removing pollution from the city's watercourses in order to meet Federal Clean Water Act requirements. The Envision Platinum award-winning project represents a bold, integrated engineering solution that successfully built consensus, captured and improved local urban runoff, and created a new neighborhood-revitalizing amenity. It is the result of partnership between a public works department and a consulting engineering team who collaborated to advance the paradigm of multibenefit public projects. This paper provides a case study illustrating how the South Los Angeles Wetland Park embodies the triple bottom line of sustainability through its social, environmental, and economic elements.