Water main break floods Encino street [updated]

City officials this morning were dealing with another water main breaking -- this one in Encino.

The break occurred about 2:45 a.m. in the 5600 block of Wish Avenue. The cause of the break was not immediately clear.

[Update, 12:11 p.m.: A small leak was reported on the 8700 block of Crescent Drive of Hollywood Hills West. Maychelle Yee, a Department of Water and Power spokeswoman, said there was no property damage there, and that water was being shut off to four or five customers while a repair crew worked on the pipe.]

Since Sept. 1, there have been more than 30 "major blowouts" in L.A.'s water system in which streets have flooded and pavement has buckled.

City engineers trying to determine what's causing the water main bursts have been taking soil samples, sending pipe pieces to labs and performing a statistical analysis on each break.

But some experts said a prime suspect should be the city's recent decision to allow sprinkling only on Mondays and Thursdays.

They said that if more water flows through the system on those two days, then pressure suddenly changes on other days, it could put added stress on already aging pipes.

But city engineers have expressed doubts about that theory and said they simply don't know the cause. While major blowouts of mains is up, water main breaks overall in L.A. are down.

-- Shelby Grad

Comments

[Julian B Duron]

The cause of the break was not immediately clear. You have to be kidding right? Water pressure, water pressure, water pressure. Age of pipes can not be helped but city can schedule and proceed with replacement projects as funds allow. But water pressure can be controlled. Yes, I said it controlled!

[geneven]

You can test the watering theory pretty easily.
Divide the house numbers into 7 groups by last two digits.
If your last two digits are 23 you water on Sundays and Wednesdays (or however they want to assign). Just like the old even and odd license plates of gas rationing, this will split up the usage while still limiting each property to two days, and make usage more even.
If the main breaks are reduced, you have evidence that was part of the cause. --Andrea

[JimBob]

Limiting what days people can sprinkle is dumb. Just charge an arm and a leg for water and people will cut down. If we don't get some serious snow in the Sierra this winter, we're in deep doo. Better to clamp down now than wait 'til it's too late.

[ChrisC]

If the infrastructure is so fragile, that's all the more reason to have a good and up-to-date disaster preparedness kit in every home - at least 3 days of self-sufficiency.

[thecanimalshusband]

This is a prime example of liquid racism.

[Southern Girl]

I agree, I smell a Rat in the police department. She is a pretty girl. Who saw her leaving the police station? Did she sign a release form? There is something else going on with that police department.