California Governor Gavin Newsom steps in amid growing concerns over water infrastructure failures during devastating Los Angeles wildfires.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the Santa Ynez Reservoir, a crucial 117-million-gallon water storage facility in Pacific Palisades, was discovered to be non-operational during the catastrophic fire that destroyed thousands of homes and structures in the area.
The reservoir had been out of commission since February 2024 for repairs to its cover, leaving firefighters to battle the intense blaze with compromised water pressure. This revelation comes as questions mount about the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's (DWP) preparedness for such emergencies, particularly after numerous fire hydrants in higher-elevation areas ran dry during critical firefighting efforts.
The emptying of the reservoir began after a several-foot tear was discovered in its floating cover, leading to potential contamination from debris and bird droppings. State regulators mandated the draining to maintain water quality standards. DWP's handling of the repair process has drawn criticism, particularly regarding the extended timeline from seeking bids in April to signing a contract in November for approximately $130,000.
IBEW Local 18 business manager Gus Corona expressed strong disapproval of the situation. He stated:
It's completely unacceptable that this reservoir was empty for almost a year for minor repairs. This work should have been done in-house, and they shouldn't have depended on a contractor to do it. I truly believe it's something that could have been avoided.
The utility's chief communications officer, Joseph Ramallo, indicated the reservoir was scheduled to resume operations in February 2025, almost a year after its closure.
DWP officials maintain that the system was never designed to handle such an extreme wildfire scenario. The upper Palisades area relies on three storage tanks, each holding 1 million gallons, positioned at different elevations to maintain water pressure through gravity flow.
Former DWP general manager Martin Adams provided insight into the reservoir's potential impact, suggesting that while its presence would have helped maintain water pressure longer, it wouldn't have prevented the eventual system failure. According to Adams:
You still would have ended up with serious drops in pressure. Would Santa Ynez [Reservoir] have helped? Yes, to some extent. Would it have saved the day? I don't think so.
By early Wednesday morning, all three storage tanks had been depleted, with DWP crews unable to refill them quickly enough to meet the unprecedented demand.
The Santa Ynez complex represents a significant portion of DWP's water storage capacity, which totals more than 91 billion gallons across its entire infrastructure. The system's design includes multiple redundancies and water sources, including a large pipeline from Stone Canyon and the smaller Palisades Reservoir.
DWP Chief Executive Janisse Quiñones explained that water demand reached four times the normal level over a 15-hour period, severely impacting the system's ability to maintain pressure. The situation was further complicated when crews attempting to reroute water to refill tanks had to evacuate due to approaching flames.
The incident has sparked outrage among residents and civic leaders, including L.A. City Councilmember Traci Park and developer Rick Caruso, who view the water pressure failures as evidence of inadequate infrastructure maintenance. The fire's devastating toll of 5,300 destroyed homes and buildings across Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Malibu has intensified scrutiny of the utility's emergency preparedness.
Governor Newsom's ordered investigation into the DWP aims to determine how the Santa Ynez Reservoir remained offline during such a critical period. The probe will examine both the loss of water pressure and the empty reservoir situation, which the governor described as "deeply troubling." The unprecedented nature of this disaster has exposed vulnerabilities in Los Angeles's water infrastructure system, particularly in high-elevation areas.
