About 9,200 households in Granada Hills and Porter Ranch were dealing with a water service outage on Wednesday after the Los Angeles Department of Water Power announced that emergency repairs were underway at a pump station.
The problem arose on Tuesday afternoon. The DWP said that as crews were making repairs at a pump station that connects to a 10-million-gallon tank, a valve controlling the flow of water failed to open.
“As a result, the water flowing from the tank into the pipes serving the area was cut off,” the department said in a written statement. “Crews are on site and are working as quickly and safely as possible to perform repairs to the valve.”
DWP workers Eddy Ochoa, left, and Alex Reyman, right, distribute bottled water at Holleigh Bernson Memorial Park as vehicles line up Wednesday afternoon.
(Al Seib/For The Times)
The agency said it was coordinating with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to resupply the tank and requested support from a company that provides high-capacity pumps.
The DWP announced the problem Tuesday night and said customers should urgently conserve water, but that high water demand coupled with the restricted water flow left the tank drained by about 7 a.m. Wednesday.
The DWP said the affected area in the San Fernando Valley extends from Rinaldi Street in the south, to Balboa Boulevard to the east and De Soto Avenue in the west.
Crews checked for utility lines as they worked to repair water lines near San Fernando Road and Balboa Boulevard in Sylmar Wednesday morning.
(Al Seib/For The Times)
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said that, while repairs are underway, “we are making drinking water, showers and other resources available for Angelenos who may have been impacted by the outage.”
“Especially as we face rising temperatures, the LADWP and other City departments are mobilizing resources to ensure that Angelenos stay safe and hydrated,” Bass said in a written statement.
For residents who still had some water flowing from taps, L.A. and state water officials strongly advised people in the area to only use boiled tap water or bottled water for drinking and cooking until further notice.
The DWP issued an unsafe water alert saying that customers should bring tap water to a boil for one minute and then let it cool before using it for drinking or cooking, as well as for brushing teeth or making ice cubes. The department said it will inform the public when tests show that water is safe to drink and boiling is no longer needed.
“We estimate that the boil water issue may take up to one week to resolve; however, extra time may be needed due to the complex nature of the pressure restoration and valve repair,” the department said in the notice.
The DWP said it was providing bottled water to customers at three locations in the Granada Hills and Porter Ranch area from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.:
- Holleigh Bernson Memorial Park, 20500 Sesnon Blvd., Northridge
- O’Melveny Park, 17300 Sesnon Blvd., Granada Hills
- The intersection of Tampa Ave. and Sesnon Blvd. on the border of Northridge and Porter Ranch
The department said the safety of customers and the community is “our top priority as we work quickly to make repairs and resupply water.”
The city has cooling centers with restrooms available at Recreation and Parks facilities as well as local libraries.
City officials said the L.A. Fire Department deployed water tankers and crews to the area, and that the Emergency Operations Center was activated as officials monitored the situation.
The city said residents and businesses that depend on water for medical needs, such as dialysis clinics and senior centers, were being contacted to ensure there were plans for dealing with the situation, and that L.A.’s departments of Transportation and Aging were coordinating transportation for elderly residents to the bottled water distribution sites.
DWP Crews in Porter Ranch pumped water into the distribution system to help with water demand Wednesday.
(Al Seib/For The Times)
Crews have begun digging to access the valve 20 feet underground, the DWP said, and the repairs are expected to be completed on Friday. (The DWP is providing updates on its website.)
Abbey Ronquillo, president of the Granada Hills South Neighborhood Council, said she learned about the pending water outage in an email Tuesday night from the DWP, but she would have liked to see earlier and more specific communication from the agency via text and email to customers in the area.
“I don’t think that we were well informed,” Ronquillo said. “It’s unfortunate there was not enough warning for our community.
“I would have wished that DWP would have given an earlier message to the community, more widespread, where you didn’t really have to dig deep in order to find this information,” Ronquillo said, “because a lot of homes will be impacted negatively from not having water, of course, especially in the summer months.”
Christy Holland, DWP’s community initiatives manager, said the department contacted all customers in the area who had signed up for text or email alerts.
DWP sent out 3,400 notifications by email and text about 9 p.m. Tuesday with all the information that was available at that time, Holland said. That was followed Wednesday morning with an area-wide text alert through the city’s NotifyLA emergency alert system, Holland said.
She said customers can sign up for texts or emails online or by calling 1-800-DIAL-DWP.
