GRANADA HILLS (CNS) - 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.
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The DWP said crews needed 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.
DWP officials reported some progress Saturday.
"As of 7:00 AM, the 10-million-gallon tank serving the area has reached approximately 27% capacity -- a strong step forward," the utility said. "To speed up the process, we installed an additional pump overnight, and two more are on the way this Saturday. These extra pumps will boost water flow, allowing us to begin water quality testing earlier than usual -- before repairs are fully complete."
DWP officials originally said the repairs could take until Friday. The utility noted that accessing the broken valve 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.
Residents in the affected area are being asked use bottled water for drinking and cooking, keep all indoor and outdoor taps closed, refrain from doing laundry and dishes, and turn off all sprinklers, smart irrigation systems and swimming pool automatic fill systems.
In the meantime, the DWP added two more service sites to help customers affected by the outage, bringing the number of those sites to five.
Their locations are:
-- Holleigh Bernson Memorial Park, 20500 Sesnon Blvd, Porter Ranch (water bottle distribution, recycled water distribution, restrooms, showers, mobile laundry units; open 7 a.m.-9 p.m.);
-- O'Melveny Park, 17300 Sesnon Blvd., Granada Hills (water bottle distribution, recycled water distribution, restrooms; open 7 a.m.-9 p.m.);
-- Intersection of Tampa Avenue And Sesnon Boulevard on the border of Northridge and Porter Ranch (water bottle distribution and recycled water distribution; open 7 a.m.-9 p.m.);
-- YMCA, 11336 Corbin St., Porter Ranch (showers, mobile laundry units; open 5 a.m.-10 p.m.);
-- Intersection of Rinaldi and Louise Avenue (showers, mobile laundry units, restrooms; open 5 a.m.-10 p.m.).
A complete list of services available to affected customers is available at ladwpnews.com/granada-hills-and-porter-ranch-customer-resources/.
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