For months, Los Angeles city officials and external contractors have been working to ensure that Santa Inez Reservoir, a 117 million gallon aquatic layer in the heart of Parisades in the Pacific Ocean, will return to service by early May.
Since early 2024, the reservoir has been sitting empty due to tears of the cover floating on the surface. The reservoir was empty during the Palisade fire on January 7th, sparking anger from residents and urged Gov. Gavin Newsom to ask for an investigation.
Once repairs were completed, crews from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power were refilling the reservoir last week when they discovered more tears and “pinhole-sized leaks” with floating covers.
As a result, the DWP confirmed Wednesday that the reservoir needs to be re-evacuated. DWP said it expects repairs to take three to four weeks, and it is estimated that the reservoir will return online by mid- to late June.
“This development is annoying set-off, but we are working with contractors as soon as possible to get the Santay Nez Reservoir back into service,” said Anselmo Collins, senior assistant general manager at DWP, which oversees the water system.
Collins said the supply of water to the neighborhood is “safe and powerful” and there are water resources for firefighting, enhanced by a network of Encino Reservoir and a “complete and operational” storage tanks.
“The water system serving Palisades has completed these additional repairs and continues to meet all federal and state fire codes and water quality standards,” Collins said.
The delay adds to the frustration and rage of Palisade residents who question why the large reservoirs that were shoved into the canyon above many of the neighborhood were empty when the January 7 wildfire broke the block after the block, killing thousands of homes and businesses.
In a statement, DWP said Rayfield Group, the contractor that installed the floating cover in 2022 and corrected the previous laceration, will test the repairs on March 26 before giving it green light to refill the reservoir.
Since March 31, DWP crews have refilled the reservoirs as part of a gradual process of raising water levels only a few feet each day.
However, last week, staff found out that water was piled up on the floating cover. This is a potential sign of leaks and cover damage.
“The divers were dispatched to investigate and assess the condition of the cover and discovered additional small tears and pin-sized leaks that need to be repaired before filling the reservoir,” DWP said in a statement.
The Santay Nez Reservoir in Palisade in the Pacific Ocean, seen in January 2024, will need to be re-ejected after more leaks are found.
(California Water Resources Management Committee)
Collins, a DWP executive, expressed his dissatisfaction that the leak had not been detected previously.
“The fact that initial repairs and inspections by the contractors did not detect any small lacerations and pinholes in the floating cover are troubling, especially since ladWP needs to fully test the repairs before refilling the reservoirs with the contractor,” he said in a statement.
The reservoir was drained in early 2024 after civil servants discovered water was piled up in floating covers. After awarding with state water quality personnel, the DWP drained the reservoir to repair the floating cover.
Initially, DWP used an in-house team to examine tears and attempted to correct them. However, a DWP spokesman said it was too big for an in-house technician since the tears were measured about 100 feet.
The task of modifying the floating cover was issued for competitive bids. This is a process that took me nine months in the end. Only one vendor submitted a bid for a repair that was officially approved in late 2024.
When the Palisade fired in January, repairs had not yet begun. After the fire, Rayfield teams were sent to perform their initial repairs and inspect additional damage to the fire cover, including burns from flying embers.
Research continues to determine why the reservoir is offline and the wider water supply issues during the Palisade fire. DWP said it is expected that the “preliminary report” will be released in the coming weeks. An independent state investigation by the Fire Safety Institute is also underway.
In a statement, the DWP argued that even when Santay Nez Reservoir is offline, customers in the Pallisard district and surrounding area still have a proper water supply.
“Given the nature of the utility’s water systems and water infrastructure needs for repair and maintenance, our reservoirs don’t have to serve all the time, and that’s not impossible,” the utility said. “Infrastructure that is offline for maintenance and repairs is part of the regular operational needs of water systems and is important to maintain safe drinking water standards.”
Without a reservoir, Palisades customers get water primarily through a large trunk line running along the Sunset Boulevard.
“The trunkline was operational and provided adequate water supply to the Palisade,” DWP said, adding that the water system “whether offline reservoirs meets or exceeds the standards of the Fire Act.”
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