Pacific Palisades Reservoir Found Empty and Offline During Firestorm Catastrophe – 117 Million Gallons Could Have Saved the Day
Outrage is boiling over after revelations that the Santa Ynez Reservoir, a critical water source in Pacific Palisades, was empty and offline when a devastating wildfire ripped through the area.
The Los Angeles Times reported that despite the reservoir’s critical role in the city’s water infrastructure, it had been offline for nearly a year.
The Santa Ynez Reservoir, with a capacity of 117 million gallons, could have played a critical role in providing water pressure to firefighters battling the devastating fire that destroyed thousands of homes and buildings in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Malibu.
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s (DWP) officials claim the reservoir had been offline for “a while” due to a tear in its cover.
Now, incompetent Governor Gavin Newsom has labeled the situation “deeply troubling” and ordered an independent investigation into the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP).
“I am calling for an independent investigation into the loss of water pressure to local fire hydrants and the reported unavailability of water supplies from the Santa Ynez Reservoir. We need answers to ensure this does not happen again and we have every resource available to fight these catastrophic fires,” Newsom wrote on X.
According to the letter sent to DWP:
“From the moment firestorms erupted in Los Angeles County on Tuesday, January 7, it was clear our public infrastructure would be put under tremendous strain. The horrific hurricane-force winds and dry conditions have produced an unprecedented urban-wildlands disaster that has pushed all of our resources to the limits.
The ongoing reports of the loss of water pressure to some local fire hydrants during the fires and the reported unavailability of water supplies from the Santa Ynez Reservoir are deeply troubling to me and to the community. While water supplies from local fire hydrants are not designed to extinguish wildfires over large areas, losing supplies from fire hydrants likely impaired the effort to protect some homes and evacuation corridors.
We need answers to how that happened. Therefore, I have directed state water and firefighting officials to prepare an independent after-incident report examining the causes of lost water supply and water pressure in municipal water systems during the fire events, and to identify measures that local governments can implement to provide adequate water supply for emergency response during future catastrophic events.
