More than 9,200 Department of Water and Power customers in Granada Hills and Porter Ranch remain without water service Saturday, and the interruption is expected to continue through the weekend.
DWP officials said late Friday that crews need to excavate 24 feet underground to access and repair a valve that was damaged Tuesday.
“The water disruption stems from a deeply buried broken valve on a major 54-inch diameter water pipeline that supplies the Susana Tank serving the area, with approximately 104 miles of water system pipes serving 9,200 customers impacted by the incident,” the utility said. “The repair site is located near critical infrastructure — including oil pipelines, a fiber optic line, and a gas line. The complexity of the operation has now necessitated additional excavation to widen the trench. Repairs are expected to continue through the weekend.”
While the repair work continues, customers remain on a boil water alert and are being urged not to use their running tap water if it happens to be working.
The affected area is bounded roughly by Rinaldi Avenue on the south, Balboa Boulevard on the east, De Soto Avenue on the west and the foothills and hills to the north, according to the DWP.
The agency said water crews were conducting repair work at a pump station Tuesday that connects to a 10 million-gallon water tank — which serves the area — when a valve controlling the flow of water failed to open.
“As a result, the water flowing from the tank into the pipes serving the area was cut off,” according to a DWP statement.
Crews immediately embarked on repair efforts, digging to reach the valve that is located about 20 feet underground.
DWP officials originally said the repairs could take until Friday. The utility noted that accessing the broken valve has proved problematic.
A DWP spokeswoman stressed that, even if a customer’s water happens to be working, running one’s tap still is discouraged because that would decrease the level in the tank crews are trying to re-pressurize.
DWP officials said they were working on a possible temporary fix that would involve pumping water from a nearby Metropolitan Water District of Southern California facility into the DWP’s 54-inch trunkline that feeds water to the affected area.
It was unclear when or if that temporary fix would be implemented.
The DWP established water distribution sites providing drinking water to affected residents daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m at:
— Holleigh Bernson Memorial Park, 20500 Sesnon Blvd., Northridge;
— O’Melveny Park, 17300 Sesnon Blvd., Granada Hills; and
— the intersection of Tampa Avenue and Sesnon Boulevard on the Northridge-Porter Ranch border.
On Friday, the DWP also opened an additional site — for showers and laundry only — operating from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the Porter Ranch YMCA, 11336 Corbin St.
DWP is also providing customers with non-drinking recycled water, portable showers, hand-washing stations, mobile laundry units, and portable toilets. The services are being offered at the various sites.
A complete list of services available to affected customers is available at ladwpnews.com/granada-hills-and-porter-ranch-customer-resources/.