For months, Los Angeles city officials and an outside contractor have worked to ensure that the Santa Ynez Reservoir, the 117-million-gallon water complex in the heart of Pacific Palisades, could return to service by early May.
Since early 2024, the reservoir had sat empty due to tears in the cover that floats across its surface. The reservoir was empty during the Jan. 7 Palisades fire, sparking anger from residents and prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom to call for an investigation.
With repairs complete, crews with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power were refilling the reservoir last week when they discovered further tears and “pinhole sized leaks” in the floating cover.
As a result, DWP confirmed Wednesday that the reservoir will have to be drained, again, so that crews can fix the floating cover. DWP said they expected the repairs to take three to four weeks, with the reservoir now estimated to come back online by mid- to late June.
“While this development is a frustrating setback, we are working as quickly as possible with the contractor to return Santa Ynez Reservoir to service,” said Anselmo Collins, the senior assistant general manager at DWP who oversees the water system.
Collins said that the water supply to the neighborhood is “safe and strong,” with water resources for firefighting boosted by the Encino reservoir and a network of “full and operational” storage tanks.
“The water system serving the Palisades continues to meet all federal and state fire codes and water quality standards while these additional repairs are completed,” Collins said.
The delay adds to the frustration and fury of Palisades residents, who have questioned why a large reservoir tucked in a canyon above much of the neighborhood was empty when the Jan. 7 wildfire ripped through block after block, leveling thousands of homes and businesses and killing 12.
In a statement, DWP said that Layfield Group, the contractor that installed the floating cover and fixed a previous tear in 2022, had tested its repairs on March 26 before giving the green light to refill the reservoir.
Since March 31, DWP crews had been refilling the reservoir as part of a gradual process that lifts the water level only a few feet each day.
Last week, however, staffers found water pooling on top of the floating cover — a potential sign of a leak or damage to the cover.
“Divers were dispatched to investigate and assess the condition of the cover and they discovered additional small tears and pin-sized leaks that must be repaired before the reservoir can be filled,” DWP said in a statement.
Collins, the DWP executive, expressed frustration that the leaks were not detected earlier.
“The fact that the initial repairs and inspection by the contractor did not detect the small tears and pinholes on the floating cover is troubling, especially since LADWP required the contractor to fully test the repairs prior to refilling the reservoir,” he said in a statement.
The reservoir was drained in early 2024 after officials found water pooling on the floating cover. After conferring with state water quality officials, DWP drained the reservoir to repair the floating cover.
DWP initially used in-house teams to examine the tear and attempt a fix. But a spokesperson for DWP said that since the tear measured about 100 feet, it was too large for in-house technicians.
The task of fixing the floating cover was put out for a competitive bid, a process that ultimately took nine months. Only one vendor, Layfield Group, submitted a bid for the repair, which was formally approved in late 2024.
Repairs had not yet begun when the Palisades fire erupted in January. After the fire, Layfield’s team was sent to perform the initial repairs and to inspect for additional damage to the cover from the fire, such as burns from flying embers.
Investigations into why the reservoir was offline as well as into broader water supply issues during the Palisades fire remain ongoing. DWP said it expects a “preliminary report” to be released in coming weeks. The state’s independent investigation by the Fire Safety Research Institute is also underway.
In a statement, DWP asserted that even with the Santa Ynez Reservoir offline, customers in the Palisades neighborhood and the vicinity still have an adequate water supply.
“Given the nature of utility water systems and water infrastructure repair and maintenance needs, our reservoirs are not required to always be in service, nor would it be possible,” the utility said. “Infrastructure being offline for maintenance or repairs is part of the regular operational need of a water system and critical for maintaining safe drinking water standards.”
Without the reservoir, Palisades customers get water primarily via a large trunkline that runs along Sunset Boulevard.
“The trunkline was operational and provided sufficient water supply into the Palisades,” DWP said, adding that the water system “meets or exceeds fire code standards, even when we take reservoirs offline.”
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