Pipeline Work To Force SoCal Reservoirs To Go Offline

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com/AP) — Two Southland reservoirs are set to be taken offline for repair and renovation work this summer amid an already historic drought.

The Silver Lake Reservoir will be drained as part of a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) project to build a new water pipeline beneath it, the Associated Press reported.

The lost drinking-water storage is being replaced by a new underground reservoir near Griffith Park called Headworks, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The open-air reservoir - which was disconnected in Dec. 2013 - no longer meets federal standards for storing drinking water, The Times reported.

"We're so concerned about it, you have no idea," resident Michel LaPointe said. "We count the water by the glass, to tell you the truth."

LADWP crews were also set Monday to being installing a new pipeline that officials say will bring water to the UCLA campus and surrounding neighborhoods from various alternative sources, while the Upper Stone Canyon Reservoir now serving the area is taken offline.

Some 400 million gallons will be drained, treated, disinfected and turned back into drinking water, according to DWP.

"We're trying to maximize the beneficial use of all of our water in Silver Lake, as well as any other area, so that is a real important thing for us," DWP Director of Water Engineering SUsan Rowghani said.

Known as the Charing Cross and Hilgard Bypass Line, the 36-inch water pipe at Sunset Boulevard and Hilgard Avenue is expected to affect traffic in the area for the next six months until Jan. 2016.

Two separate water main breaks occurred last September along the pipe, which officials say was installed in 1916.

As part of requirements under the federal Clean Water Act, a floating cover will be installed at the reservoir to protect the water, according to LADWP spokesperson Kim Hughes.

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