What else will surface at Echo Park Lake?

So far there have been no dead bodies, no safes stuffed with soggy cash, no rusty stolen cars.

The only things exposed by the receding water at Echo Park Lake have been shopping carts, 55-gallon steel barrels, a parking-enforcement "boot" and lots of skateboards.

But who knows what is still hidden in the muck at the bottom of the 13-acre lake, soon to be dredged and outfitted with a leak-proof clay liner?

Officials say that leaks once required them to replenish the lake with valuable drinking water. The sludge at the bottom will be hauled to landfills, depending on what's in it. The sediment is 5 feet deep in places, brownish, greenish and chalky gray, laden with roots and branches.

The draining began the first week of September and continued through last week. Twenty-one million gallons of lake water were pumped into the city's sewer system. The lake and surrounding parkland are to remain fenced off during the two-year, $64.7-million makeover.  Read More

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