Water is flowing again for more than 9,200 customers in Granada Hills and Porter Ranch after almost a week due to a broken valve, but while it’s fine for showers, residents are still being told to boil it before drinking.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said service was fully restored as of 2:27 a.m. Monday.
Residents can now use tap water to take showers, flush toilets, conduct water landscaping and any other household or business needs. However, customers in the affected area were still urged to continue using boiled or bottled water until DWP staff complete two 18-hour rounds of water-quality testing.
Members of the DWP’s Water Quality Division have collected water samples for testing from the three pressure zones that span the affected areas of Granada Hills and Porter Ranch that have been under a Boil Water Notice since last Wednesday.
The water lab is testing the samples and awaiting water quality results to submit to the State Division of Drinking Water. Once the regulators give the all-clear, customers will be notified that the Boil Water Notice is lifted.
“Water service has been successfully restored in Granada Hills and Porter Ranch. Thank you to city crews for their around-the-clock efforts, and to the thousands of Angelenos who conserved water during this time,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement Monday morning.
The outage began Aug. 5 when a valve broke during repair work at a pump station, cutting off flow through a 54-inch pipeline that feeds the 10-million-gallon Susana Tank. Crews had to excavate 24 feet underground to access the damaged valve, located near oil pipelines, a fiber-optic line and a gas line. The complexity of the site required widening the trench before the valve could be removed.
The outage came during a mini heat wave that saw temperatures soar well into the 90s in the affected area, which was 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.
DWP officials said the agency distributed more than 1 million bottles of water and delivered more than 1,200 gallons to vulnerable homebound residents, including seniors and customers with disabilities.
With tap water service restored, the DWP on Monday night permanently closed its mobile showers and laundry facilities.
“However, LADWP will continue to provide bottled water distribution as well as recycled water for customers still interested in using non-potable water for irrigation, until the Boil Water Notice is lifted,” the agency said.
Bottled water was being distributed at the following sites:
– Holleigh Bernson Memorial Park, 20500 Sesnon Blvd., Porter Ranch (open 7 a.m.- 7 p.m.)
– O’Melveny Park, 17300 Sesnon Blvd., Granada Hills (7 a.m.- 7 p.m.)
– Intersection of Tampa Avenue and Sesnon Boulevard, on the border of Northridge and Porter Ranch (7 a.m.-7 p.m.)