Work on Giant Water Line Drops Pressure

• Contingency Plans Said to Be in Place for Wildfire

BY HANS LAETZ

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 wa-ter 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.