![]() The agency is increasing the amount of aging pipe it replaces each year. The data showed that Westwood, Silver Lake, Venice, Woodland Hills and Beverly Grove were among the other neighborhoods with an unusually high number of leaks. “I’ve seen so many water breaks over the years.” Just this year, the president of Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council discovered water gushing from a ruptured pipe on gushing water down her street. So those can be somewhat susceptible to leaks.”Īnastasia Mann said she was not surprised to learn just how dilapidated the city’s pipes had become, especially in her neighborhood. “Some of the higher elevations have to operate at a higher pressure than the surface streets. For example, neighborhoods in and around Hollywood Hills had more than 500 leaks combined, about 10% of all leaks in the city.Ī lot of the pipes in the Hollywood Hills “are coming of age,” Castruita said. Pipe leaks since 2010 have been reported across the city, but some areas saw more than others, The Times’ analysis found. In September, DWP data showed that water line blowouts had increased significantly over the summer. The city has averaged nearly 1,200 leaks a year since 2010, The Times’ analysis found.Ībout 200 leaks each year are classified as “blowouts” that damage more than 100 square feet of asphalt or pavement, said Joe Castruita, director of water distribution at DWP. The agency also said the number of water main leaks and breaks last year was 37% less than in 2006. The current rate of about 15 leaks per 100 miles is just shy of half the national average, officials say. Water main leaks and breaks occur on average about three times a day across the city, DWP officials said. His office noted the city boosted spending to maintain or replace water mains from $82 million to $112 million over the last four years. Mayor Eric Garcetti has promised not to increase water or electricity rates this year. “These statistics clearly show the need to invest in our infrastructure, and that will cost money.” “For a densely populated city like Los Angeles, a reliable water delivery system is not a luxury, it is critical to our very survival,” City Councilman Joe Buscaino said in a statement. More than 5% of the DWP’s water main pipes have reached or passed their expected useful life, The Times’ analysis found, and another 8% are approaching the end of their usefulness. The data show that the average age of L.A.’s water pipes is 58 years and that two-thirds of the leaking pipes were installed before 1950. There have been more than 5,200 pipe leaks since 2010. Blowouts that damaged both private and public property have plagued the system. The data, obtained under the California Public Records Act, provide a detailed and sobering view of the challenges Los Angeles faces in modernizing the infrastructure, parts of which date to the 19th century. Officials said replacing those pipes over the next 10 years is a priority. About 6% of the system earned grades of D and F, according to a Times analysis of Department of Water and Power data. ![]() The city issues letter grades to thousands of pipes in the sprawling water network based on the likelihood of failure and the potential consequences of a break. As Los Angeles struggles to fix its decrepit water system, officials are most concerned about 400 miles of pipes that they say pose the greatest risk of breaking and causing major property damage. ![]()
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