Preventing more water main breaks which have plagued the city for months may be as simple as a schedule change.
The city's Water and Power Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to change Los Angeles' water rationing schedule, which experts have cited as a factor in a rash of pipeline breaks last summer. One break led to a sinkhole that partially swallowed a fire engine in the West Valley.
The proposed changes still need the approval of the City Council.
James McDaniel, senior assistant general manager for the Department of Water and Power's water system, called for amending the city's Emergency Water Conservation ordinance so residents of odd-numbered addresses can activate their sprinklers on Mondays and Thursdays, while residents at even-numbered addresses can irrigate on Tuesdays and Fridays.
He said that despite the proposed changes, the DWP would maintain its water conservation targets.
The proposed changes come weeks after a study led by Jean-Pierre Bardet, chairman of USC's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, found that banning residents from turning on their sprinklers except for a few hours on Mondays and Thursdays was a major factor in the 101 water main breaks reported from July through September last year -- double the normal number for that time period.
Bardet concluded that the DWP's water-rationing program created drastic changes in water pressure that put stress on corroded cast-iron pipes and caused them to break, causing severe flooding in several areas of the city.
