Water System

The rash of water-main breaks continued early Tuesday, with three more ruptures causing flooding and street closures in the Hollywood Hills and South Los Angeles. But with 18 major bursts so far this month -- about average for this point in October -- water officials said the recent upswing in major leaks in the city's water system, which reached an alarming 44 in September, appears to have eased. "It's settled down," said Joe Ramallo, a spokesman for the Department of Water and Power.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger began moving the first of 704 bills from his desk, as the clock ticked toward a midnight deadline for acting on them and lawmakers continued to haggle over a potentially groundbreaking water deal. Measures the governor signed into law include one intended to combat human trafficking and an anti-drunk-driving measure requiring DUI offenders in some counties to install devices in their vehicles that test blood-alcohol content before the vehicles can be started.

Like the cinematic action hero he was, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants a big finish. With little more than a year left in office, he is willing to take hostages to get it. So as the clock ticks toward a Sunday deadline for signing or rejecting more than 700 bills on his desk, Schwarzenegger has engaged legislative leaders in a game of chicken, threatening a mass veto if lawmakers don't strike a deal to upgrade the state's water system. By most accounts, Schwarzenegger is acting with an eye on the past, present and future -- in particular, on the legacy of his administration.

A flock of state legislators is winging it to Denmark and Spain during the next 19 days to see how Europeans govern, further delaying long-promised action back home on California's water-supply problems and help for cash-strapped schools. Seven state senators are heading overseas this week, some having left Thursday, on a trip that includes stops in Copenhagen, Madrid, Bilbao and Barcelona. They plan to study Spain's national water system and Scandinavian environmental programs, and to promote trade between California and Catalonia, according to a statement from the Senate Office of International Relations, which is organizing the trip.

The latest in a string of water main blowouts occurred Sunday morning in Venice, causing a sinkhole on Lincoln Boulevard. Since Sept. 1, there have been 34 major blowouts in L.A.'s water system, in which streets have flooded and pavement has buckled. Another occurred Friday afternoon on Myra Avenue in Silver Lake. By contrast, the city had only 21 such ruptures in all of September 2008, 17 in September 2007 and 13 in September 2006. -- Shelby Grad

Underground water pipes in Los Angeles have suffered significantly more "major blowouts" in the last three months, officials confirmed Tuesday after analyzing dozens of ruptures, some of which flooded streets, damaged vehicles and buildings and created a sinkhole so big that it almost swallowed a firetruck. And the city's engineers don't know why. It could be fluctuating temperatures. It could be a statistical anomaly. It could be something else. "It's strange," said William Robertson, general manager of the Bureau of Street Services, which repaves the ruined roads after the water recedes.

Eleventh-hour discord over a huge bond proposal sank an ambitious legislative water package that would have brought some resolution to one of California's most contentious issues. As the clock ticked toward adjournment of the legislative session late Friday, Democratic leaders realized they didn't have the votes and shelved a wide-ranging set of measures aimed at improving the state's water supply and stopping the environmental hemorrhaging of the center of its waterworks. But they vowed to try again, saying they would ask Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to call a special session on water this fall.

Los Angeles City Council members said Wednesday that they intend to more closely monitor upgrades to the city's aging, leaky water system after burst pipes in the San Fernando Valley inundated one neighborhood and caused a sinkhole in another that nearly swallowed a firetruck. "Most folks recognize this as a wake-up call," said City Councilman Paul Koretz, who represents the Studio City and Valley Village neighborhoods where the burst lines created havoc, chewing up pavement and flooding homes and businesses.

A second burst water line in the San Fernando Valley in less than 72 hours -- creating a sinkhole that nearly consumed a firetruck -- prompted concern about the city's aging pipe system and criticism that officials have moved too slowly to upgrade it. The sinkhole appeared Tuesday morning in Valley Village, about two miles from the spot where a 95-year-old trunk line failed late Saturday night, sending a 10-foot torrent of mud and water into the...

The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, one of the biggest sources of Southern California's water, is the largest estuary on the West Coast. By all accounts, the delta, which feeds into San Francisco Bay, is also one of the most endangered ecosystems in the United States. Water quality standards are routinely violated, and several of its fisheries, including the once prolific run of chinook salmon, are hovering on the brink of extinction. Scientists have conclusively identified diversion of freshwater away from this estuary as one of the major causes of its collapse.