What’s up with L.A.’s water infrastructure?

Good morning, it’s Tuesday, July 21. Today’s clouds will do little to temper the heat (high 80s to low 90s).

When the water pipeline that ruptured in West Hollywood last week was put in place in 1916, William Mulholland was chief engineer of L.A.'s municipal water system, a nascent Hollywood was still producing silent films and the city was in the midst of a massive population boom. 

Much has changed in the 110 years since then. But some things — including a not-insignificant portion of the piping carrying water to the city’s 4 million residents — have stayed the same. 

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s chief water officer, Anselmo Collins, told my colleague Matt Hamilton in a recent interview that much of the trunk line under Sunset Boulevard is of “about the same vintage” as the water main that burst, flooding the area with 17 million gallons of water, and leaving a portion of the Sunset Strip still closed. Meanwhile, more than 30% of LADWP’s distribution mainlines are more than 80 years old, according to the utility. 

Is it normal for a city to have such old pipes? The WeHo trunk line rupture, along with several smaller water pipe ruptures in Hollywood and Venice over the weekend, has directed enormous public attention to L.A.’s water infrastructure and what kind of shape it’s really in. 

First, some background: Hundreds of millions of gallons of water flow under the city every day through both trunk lines and distribution mainlines. Trunk lines, like the one that ruptured under Sunset Boulevard, are larger than 20 inches in diameter and have the capacity to move large amounts of water around the city. There are far more distribution mainlines, which are smaller and make up the backbone of the system, bringing water between facilities and to individual homes. 

The issue of aging pipes is far from unique to L.A., according to Joseph Reichenberger, a Loyola Marymount University professor of civil engineering and a water systems expert.

“We have aging infrastructure practically everywhere,” Reichenberger explained. 

LADWP will spend around $766 million this fiscal year on infrastructure, including the installation of 240,000 linear feet of pipe and more than 13,000 feet of trunk line, according to Collins, the agency’s chief water officer.

But Reichenberger thought the utility should have been investing much more heavily in pipe replacement decades ago. He also said that he worried LADWP’s stated goal of achieving a 150-year replacement cycle for its aging water distribution system was insufficient, since infrastructure would likely fail before the 150-year mark. (There isn’t a single magic number, Reichenberger said, though he thought planning on a 75- to 100-year replacement cycle would be preferable. The DWP’s chief water officer, however, insisted that the pipe being installed today should be able to last for that 150-year cycle.) 

And age is but one potential problem: Pipes can also be affected by corrosion, landslide areas, fault lines and other issues, according to Reichenberger. “We've been getting away with not adequately funding this infrastructure replacement,” Reichenberger said, “and now the chickens have come home to roost.”

But ripping up streets to replace trunk lines comes with its own set of challenges, according to Collins. 

Significantly increasing investments in water infrastructure comes with heavy costs for ratepayers, which would hit families on their monthly bills, he said. And installing new trunk lines can make for massive disruption in communities, including long-term street closures and impacts on local businesses and residents. 

Take the West Hollywood trunk line that failed. It’s part of a 6.4-mile section that was slated to be replaced from 2031 to 2035: a four-year construction period that will cost $280 million.

“Those are all the things that we need to look at when we are designing and planning our trunk line projects,” Collins explained. 

MERGER HALT: A federal judge ordered Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery to halt their $81 billion merger for at least two weeks. Twelve states, led by California, have sued to block Paramount’s buyout of WBD.

ZAS’ OTHER DEAL: Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is trying to buy the bankrupt Westchester County summer camp his kids attended.

ALIVE BUT INJURED: An adult bald eagle rescued over the weekend after a fight with “younger eagles” is believed to be Jackie — half of the eagle "power couple" Jackie and Shadow, who became internationally famous because of a YouTube livestream that documented their trials and tribulations raising eaglets from their Big Bear nest.

SUNDBERG GOES WEST: Buzzy business newsletter Feed Me pubbed a “California Beauty and Wellness Black Book,” including the Silver Lake stylist who “delivers the perfect Amanda Seyfried blonde” and a referral-only esthetician whose services start at $350. 

THE DIARRHEA BLAME GAME: The FDA said Monday that results showing cyclospora in a sample of shredded lettuce from Taylor Farms was a false positive, but the agency is still focused on the supplier’s central Mexico locations as the source of the multi-state outbreak of a diarrhea-causing parasite.

TWO L.A. TICKET THINGS TO KNOW: 1) Tomorrow is the final day to register for the second LA28 ticket drop. If you registered but didn’t get a time slot for the first drop, you’ll automatically be entered into the draw for the second drop. 2) Tickets for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art — which opens on Sept. 22 — go on sale today at 10 a.m. 

A Four-Bedroom Craftsman for Under $1 Million … In Pomona

How much house can you get for under a million dollars in the the eastern reaches of the county? The answer: a lot. Specifically, a two-story “beautifully maintained” 1918 Craftsman in a historic district with a pool, updated systems, four bedrooms and two bathrooms.

This 2,232 square foot house has original hardwood floors and woodwork, boasts a Batchelder fireplace and is a short walk from a neighborhood park. 

The house is listed for $960,000.

AND FINALLY… A poem to pair with your morning coffee: “So Much Happiness" by Naomi Shihab Nye.

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