Dominguez Channel is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed March 16, 2011 river in southern

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

, in the center of the Dominguez Watershed of . The watershed area is 96% developed and largely residential. Subsurface

storm drain A storm drain, storm sewer (United Kingdom, United States, U.S. and Canada), surface water drain/sewer (United Kingdom), or stormwater drain (Australia and New Zealand) is infrastructure designed to Drainage, drain excess rain and ground water ...

tributaries and open flood control channels flow into the channel. The channel originally was named after a racial slur but was changed in 1938.

Course

The stream begins just south of 116th Street in

Hawthorne Hawthorne often refers to the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne may also refer to: Places Australia *Hawthorne, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane Canada * Hawthorne Village, Ontario, a suburb of Milton, Ontario United States * Hawt ...

and flows through El Camino Village, Gardena, Alondra Park, Torrance,

Harbor Gateway The Harbor Gateway is a in the Los Angeles Harbor Region, in the southern part of the city. The neighborhood is narrow and long, running along a north-south axis. Its unusual shape has given it the alternative name of "the Shoestring Strip". T ...

Carson Carson may refer to: People *Carson (surname), people with the surname *Carson (given name), people with the given name Places ;In the United States * Carson, California, a city * Carson Township, Fayette County, Illinois *Carson, Iowa, a city * ...

, and Wilmington, and empties into the East Basin of the

Port of Los Angeles The Port of Los Angeles is a seaport managed by the Los Angeles Harbor Department, a unit of the City of Los Angeles. It occupies of land and water with of waterfront and adjoins the separate Port of Long Beach. Promoted as "America's Port", t ...

, in San Pedro Bay on the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. There is a public community bicycle path with signage and native plant landscaping built atop the Dominguez River levee for several miles in the upper reach of the river in Hawthorne and El Camino Village and again in the lower reach of the river between Gardena and Carson, with several miles of the bicycle route in Torrance. There is a gap in the middle stretch, as well as in Carson, Torrance, and Wilmington through the

oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, lique ...

to the terminus of the levee at the ocean harbor. Lower Dominguez Channel, for the last few miles before reaching the ocean harbor, becomes an

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

mixing freshwater and ocean water together, overlying a wetland soil between uncemented boulder levees that serves as wildlife habitat and wildflower habitat for migratory native birds and native wetland vegetation.

Incidents

In 1941, the channel and surrounding wetlands caught fire, sparked by firefighters burning oil seepage from a quake-damaged pipeline. The channel suffered frequent flooding until it was lined with rocks in the 1960s. In October 2021, the channel had a pollution event that caused a release of

hydrogen sulfide Hydrogen sulfide is a chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless chalcogen-hydride gas, and is poisonous, corrosive, and flammable, with trace amounts in ambient atmosphere having a characteristic foul odor of rotten eggs. The unde ...

into the air, sickening and forcing evacuation of residents in the city of Carson, as well as Gardena,

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, Redondo Beach, Torrance and Wilmington and other parts of Los Angeles County. A warehouse fire led to the accidental release of ethanol used for hand sanitizer, which killed vegetation in the channel which rapidly decayed and released hydrogen sulfide. The

South Coast Air Quality Management District The South Coast Air Quality Management District, also using the acronym South Coast (AQMD), formed in 1976, is the air pollution agency responsible for regulating stationary sources of air pollution in the South Coast Air Basin and the Coachella ...

issued notices of violation to four companies connected to the warehouse in question. The warehouse was owned by Artnaturals, a cosmetics company that had not made hand sanitizer before the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, but began making it due to the surge in demand for the product. It caught fire on September 30, 2021. Water sprayed by firefighters flushed sanitizer and other chemicals into the Dominguez channel. The issue was addressed by pumping oxygen into the channel, because hydrogen sulfide is produced in unoxygenated environments. During the initial two months, the

Los Angeles County Department of Public Works The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works (LACDPW) is responsible for the construction and operation of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County's roads, building code, building safety, Sewage collection and disposal, sewerage, a ...

paid for more than 3,000 people to move into hotels who were experiencing symptoms and also provided 27,000 air purifiers to homes to mitigate the powerful odor. In December of 2021 and January of 2022, a release of untreated sewage into Dominguez Channel prompted five beaches to close. The spill began after a concrete pipe in Carson collapsed. The pipe was 60 years old, and was due to be replaced in less than a year. It had been stressed by the buildup of

Sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen, with the molecular formu ...

, and the previous week's rainfall.

Crossings

Crossings (bridges) over Dominguez River from the mouth upstream to the source, includes 6 railroad bridges, 23 public streets, several private roads inside oil refinery properties, 2 freeways, 2 state highways, and 2 parking lots (one of which is at a California community college). The year built of the bridge are within parentheses behind the name of the bridge are listed below: * Railroad * North Henry Ford Avenue (2002) * Railroad * East Anaheim Street (1997) * Railroad *

California State Route 1 State Route 1 (SR 1) is a major north–south state highway that runs along most of the Pacific coastline of the U.S. state of California. At , it is the longest state route in California, and the second-longest in the US after Monta ...

- East Pacific Coast Highway (1948) * East

Sepulveda Boulevard Sepulveda Boulevard is a major street and transportation corridor in the City of Los Angeles and several other cities in western Los Angeles County, California. The street parallels Interstate 405 for much of its route. Portions of Sepulveda Bou ...

(1959) * Alameda Street (1959) * Railroad * Private roads * East 223rd Street & Wilmington Avenue (1963) * Railroad * Interstate 405 - San Diego Freeway (1962) * East Carson Street (1959) * East 213th Street (1961) *

Avalon Boulevard Avalon Boulevard is a north-south street in Los Angeles County. Geography Avalon Boulevard is formed after San Pedro Street intersects with Jefferson Boulevard east of Exposition Park. It passes through Southern Los Angeles County through cities ...

(1962) * East Del Almo Boulevard * South Main Street (1961) * South

Figueroa Street Figueroa Street is a major north-south street in Los Angeles County, California, spanning from the Los Angeles neighborhood of Wilmington north to Eagle Rock. A short, unconnected continuation of Figueroa Street runs just south of Marengo Driv ...

(1963) * West 190th Street (1966) * Interstate 110 and connectors (1960 and 1985) * West 182nd Street (1964) * South

Vermont Avenue Vermont Avenue is one of the longest running north–south streets in City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County, California. With a length of , is the third longest of the north–south thoroughfares in the region. For most of its length be ...

(1958) * Normandie Avenue (1958) * South Western Avenue (1960) * State Route 91 - Artesia Boulevard (1958) * Gramercy Place (1959) * Van Ness Avenue (1960) *

Crenshaw Boulevard Crenshaw Boulevard is a north-south thoroughfare in Los Angeles, California, that runs through Crenshaw and other neighborhoods along a 23-mile (37.76 km) route in the west-central part of the city. The street extends between Wilshire Bouleva ...

(1960) * Cherry Avenue (1960) * West Redondo Beach Boulevard (1960) * Parking lot of

El Camino College El Camino College (Elco or ECC) is a two-year public community college located in the unincorporated area of Los Angeles County known as Alondra Park.Crenshaw Station Crenshaw station is a elevated light rail station on the C Line of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system. It is located in the median of Interstate 105 (Century Freeway), above Crenshaw Boulevard, after which the station is named, in the city of ...

Park & Ride (1994) * Ramps to Interstate 105 * Interstate 105 and

Metro Green Line The Metro Green Line (formerly called the Central Corridor) is an light rail line that connects the central business districts of Minneapolis and Saint Paul in Minnesota as well as the University of Minnesota. An extension is under construct ...

(1992)

References

External links

LACDPW: Dominguez WatershedFriends—''Amigos'' of Dominguez Watershed

Los Angeles Bikeway Map (Metro.net) - PDF hosted on Dropbox

Friends/Amigos of the Dominguez Watershed

Hidden Waters Book Blog: Dominguez Channel, Los Angeles

GoPro Laguna Dominguez Bike Path
{{coord missing, Los Angeles County, California Rivers of Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles Harbor Region South Bay, Los Angeles Washes of California Carson, California Gardena, California Harbor Gateway, Los Angeles Hawthorne, California Sepulveda Boulevard Torrance, California Wilmington, Los Angeles Rivers of Southern California Bike paths in Los Angeles