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An Offline L.A. Water Reservoir Has Repeatedly Needed Repairs
Officials are investigating why the Santa Ynez Reservoir is offline and empty, as firefighters try to contain the nearby Pacific Palisades blaze
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“… California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered an independent investigation of LADWP’s response to the blazes, saying the reports of problems with water pressure in some local fire hydrants and the water supply from the Santa Ynez Reservoir “are deeply troubling to me and the community.”
… The reservoir’s condition is emerging as one potential problem area but isn’t the only one. The water problems in Pacific Palisades probably stemmed from the way the community’s water system was designed, said Dave Pedersen, general manager of the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District in nearby Calabasas. Water tanks situated above the homes there were likely drawn down because so many fire engines were tapping into the hydrants, he said, adding he doesn’t have direct information on that.
Like most communities in hilly terrain surrounding the Los Angeles Basin, the tanks in Pacific Palisades use gravity to feed water to homes during the day and are refilled at night with pumps, he said. But with so many fire engines tapping into hydrants during the fire, the tanks were probably drawn down and couldn’t automatically refill quickly—leaving dry hydrants, Pedersen said.
… Many of the water systems on the outskirts of Los Angeles were put in place in the 1960s and 1970s when catastrophic wildfires, made worse by drought and climate change, were a less significant threat.
“A public water system isn’t designed to fight a wildfire,” Pedersen said, adding that the investments and upgrades needed to achieve that would be costly and challenging to achieve. …”