PERMIT WAIT STIRS ANXIETY.

Byline: Eric Wahlgren Daily News Staff Writer

If Los Angeles County were to send an El Nino-related memo to the federal government, it would read something like this:

We need those permits to clear our drainage channels, on the double!

Federal officials said last week they are streamlining the permit process for the clearing of these earthen bottom waterways, but local officials said they need the go-ahead by the end of the month to gear up for winter storms.

The county's Department of Public Works said about 20 miles of its waterways - many in the San Fernando Valley - are clogged with vegetation, putting residences at risk of flooding if predicted heavy rains hit.

``These are ones where homes could be threatened,'' public works spokesman Dennis Morefield said of the drainage channels.

Public works employees identified 95 areas that in heavy rains could be potential problem spots. Many are in the San Fernando Valley and Santa Clarita: a stretch of Bull Creek from south of Victory Boulevard to where it joins the Los Angeles River, for instance. Another is a stretch of Santa Susana Creek just north of Devonshire Street.

``Other actions would have to be considered'' if the feds don't come through, said Morefield.

Morefield did not specify what steps the county might take, but Mayor Richard Riordan reportedly would consider declaring a state of emergency to give the city the ability to clear its own clogged waterways.

Ellis Stanley, a city emergency preparedness official, said the mayor's proposed action would enable city crews to do the work without the federal permits.

At issue are so-called soft bottom drainage channels, which represent only about 10 percent of the county's flood control waterways. Those with hard bottoms have already been cleared in anticipation of El Nino, the global weather phenomenon that could cause severe winter storms in Southern California.

Federal approvals are required for the earthen channels because any clearing is believed to have an impact on the environment.