Work on Giant Water Line Drops Pressure
• Contingency Plans Said
to Be in Place for Wildfire
Water pressure in parts of Malibu was
noticeably weak early this week, as an unexpected heat wave
compounded water woes caused by the emergency shutdown and
repair of a giant pipeline.
By Tuesday morning, showers were running
with less pressure, and other symptoms of a reduced supply were
evident to observers.
“It’s bad, but it’s not
nearly as bad as it could be,” said Melinda Barrett,
water conservation coordinator for Los Angeles County
Waterworks District 29, which serves Malibu, Topanga and
much of the Santa Monica Mountains. Water pressure that is
normally delivered to residences at 50 pounds per square inch
had dropped 2-3 pounds, she said.
“We had a hot weekend, and still we
had a drop in water usage.” said Metropolitan Water
District spokesperson Rob Hallwachs. “We owe a good
deal to the public’s cooperation, for which we are most
appreciative.’’
Water pressure being delivered into the
Malibu supply line by the MWD had dropped from 180 pounds per
square inch to 170 pounds, “and that’s less of a
pressure drop than we had feared,” Barrett said.
MWD’s big pipe is dried out and dug
up at four places along the 405 Freeway in Bel Air and
Culver City as emergency replacement is underway
with a July 2 deadline. The eight-foot-diameter pipe
delivers water for coastal and inland customers from County
Line Beach all the way down to San Clemente.
Water from MWD treatment plants in Orange
and Riverside counties is being used to reverse flows in other
pipelines and supply millions of people in western and southern
Los Angeles County with water.
As a result of pleas for the
emergency conservation of water, Southern
Californians cut their water consumption by an
astounding 10 percent in response last weekend, the
MWD spokesperson said.
“Our usual water deliveries are maybe
8000 acre-feet a day, and we went down to 7200
hundred-acre-feet today (Sunday),’’ Hallwachs
said. “This is really very surprising given the heat, and
we can only attribute that to everyone helping us
conserve.’’
In the Malibu area, small water pipes gave
out on Point Dume and near Saddle Peak over the weekend,
causing a few temporary, localized water outages.
Barrett said county and MWD officials are
keeping a close eye on the water pressure, given that Red Flag
fire warnings were unexpectedly issued over the weekend for the
local mountains and canyons. “Met is always able to move
things around and increase pressure if the fire department
calls for it,” she said.
But Barrett said the outbreak of a
brushfire in Malibu “would trigger a call for all water
customers to immediately stop using all water, and reserve it
for the fire department.”
The common act of watering down houses and
gardens during nearby brushfires is from a practical point
useless “and deprives the fire department of the water
they need,” Barrett said.
One interesting result of the water flow
change is that Malibu, which usually gets a mix of 60 percent
Sacramento River Delta water and 40 percent distant
groundwater, this week will get some Colorado River water
in local pipes. MWD officials say no one will taste the
difference, however, as it is heavily filtered.
