GRANADA HILLS (CNS) – Amid a building heat wave, water service was disrupted Wednesday to thousands of Department of Water and Power customers in Granada Hills and Porter Ranch due to a valve that failed at one of the agency’s pump stations.
The affected area is bounded by Rinaldi Avenue on the south, Balboa Boulevard on the east, De Soto Avenue on the west and the foothills and hills to the north, according to the DWP.
According to the agency, water crews were conducting repair work on Tuesday ata pump station that connects to a 10 million-gallon water tank that serves the area when a valve that controls 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,” according to a DWP statement.
Repair work began immediately, and the DWP “requested support from a provider of high-capacity pumps and hoses to resupply water in the 54-inch trunkline feeding the water tank. We are coordinating closely with the Metropolitan Water District to make the connection needed to resupply the tank.”
Meanwhile, residents were left without reliable water service, with the outages likely to continue until at least Friday.
The DWP established water-distribution sites providing drinking water to affected residents. The sites are at:
— Holleigh Bernson Memorial Park, 20500 Sesnon Blvd., Northridge;
— O’Melveny Park, 17300 Sesnon Blvd., Granada Hills; and
— the intersection of Tampa Avenue and Sesnon Boulevard on the Northridge-Porter Ranch border.
Mayor Karen Bass also urged residents to take advantage of available cooling centers with restrooms during the outage. The centers are available at various Recreation and Parks facilities, with a list available at laparks.org/reccenter, and at public libraries, listed at lapl.org/branches.
Excavation work is underway to give repair crews access to the faulty valve, which is 20 feet underground. That digging alone is expected to take 14 to 16 hours before the actual repair work can even begin.
“The safety of our customers and the community is our top priority as we work quickly to make repairs and resupply water,” according to the DWP. “LADWP is coordinating with the LA Fire Department to develop a water supply contingency plan for the area, including providing water tankers while this work is in progress, and is also coordinating with LAPD.”
The mayor’s office noted that the LAFD pre-deployed water tenders and engines in the affected neighborhoods, “with a focus on high-risk fire areas,” and both LAFD and LAPD crews are “increasing proactive patrolling of the areas.”
The water service outage occurred amid a growing heat wave that is expected to peak on Thursday, with many valley areas reaching triple-digits.
“While emergency repairs are underway, we are making drinking water, showers and other resources available for Angelenos who may have been impacted by the outage,” Bass said in a statement. “Especially as we face rising temperatures, the LADWP and other City departments are mobilizing resources to ensure that Angelenos stay safe and hydrated.”
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