DWP: Finding Truth in the Reporting

Former LAPD Beach Patrol Officer Rusty Redican routinely patrolled areas in the hills, such as by the Santa Ynez Reservoir. This photo of the empty reservoir was taken on July 5, 2021.

There is a saying that if one says something often enough people begin to believe it is true.

DWP, in press releases about the torn cover, writes that the Santa Ynez Reservoir has been empty since 2024 and that the Reservoir was for drinking water.

CTN reported more than a year ago that: “a November 13, 2024, a brush fire near the Santa Ynez Reservoir and adjacent to Topanga State Park started at 9:50 a.m.

“An hour later, LAFD reported that more than ‘60 firefighters on scene have stopped all forward progress. The precisely targeted, rapid water drops from LAFD Air Operations combined with the firefighter’s aggressive fire attack on the ground held the fire to approximately one acre (revised from initial size).

“Los Angele Fire Department Margaret Stewart told KTLA News that this area is a challenge because there are no hydrants, but that water tenders (large trucks carrying water) were being sent to the area. And wrote “Fortunately, we’re not in a Santa Ana event,” she said, “but the moisture level in our vegetation is critically low.”

A resident sent a query to CTN about the fire and asked why the Santa Ynez reservoir was empty. “In the past I’ve seen helicopters getting water from the reservoir.”

CTN asked local firefighters about the use of the reservoir and was told that federal and county helicopters did bucket dips from the reservoir, but city firefighters got their water from hydrants.

The L.A. Times in a January 22, 2025 story (This Reservoir Was Built to Save Pacific Palisades. It Was Empty when the Flames Came.) wrote that “by 1964, city leaders had added 13 fire stations, mapped out fire hydrants, purchased helicopters and dispatched more crews to the Santa Monica Mountains. To accommodate growth in Pacific Palisades, they built a reservoir in Santa Ynez Canyon, as well as a pumping station ‘to increase fire protection,’ as the L.A. Department of Water and Power’s then-chief water engineer, Gerald W. Jones, told The Times in 1972.”

And what about the empty Chautauqua Reservoir? Six million gallons of water was emptied onto the streets in Pacific Palisades in June 2024. A New York Times May 2 story [Before the Fire, L.A. Tried to Restore Second Reservoir in Palisades] released to the Times under a public records request reported “In early June 2024, crews spent several days cleaning the Pacific Palisades Reservoir, a facility that was about three miles away from the larger Santa Ynez site, and that was retired in 2013. The work, officials wrote, was ‘in preparation for temporarily placing the Pacific Palisades Reservoir back into service while the Santa Ynez Reservoir is out of service.’”

A photo taken of Rusty Redican, a former head of the LAPD Beach Patrol on July 5, 2021, shows the Santa Ynez reservoir was dry three years ago.

Two reservoirs, the Santa Ynez and the Chautauqua (Palisades) Reservoir, both meant to help with water for wildfires in Pacific Palisades, were empty.

The Daily Mail Ran this composite photo with a January 13 story.

DWP SAYS IT NEVER GOT HYDRANT REPAIR NOTICES:

At one-point after the fire  DWP blamed the fire department for failing to report broken hydrants. In a March 20 L.A. Times story (DWP Has Fixed the Vast Majority of Fire Hydrants Flagged for Repairs Last Year) reported, “The report we received on [Feb. 14] was completely different than the report we received in August,” DWP Chief Executive and Chief Engineer Janisse Quiñones said at a Board of Power and Water Commissioners meeting in late February. “That was the first time we saw the ‘needs repair.’”

Firefighters annually inspect 66,000 fire hydrants across the city. They had identified at least 1,350 hydrants in need of repair, according to their 2024 inspection. They report problems to DWP, which then makes repairs.

After the Palisades Fire, this editor stopped at Fire Station 69 and asked when and if Palisades hydrants were checked. They are checked annually, generally in January. This editor asked how the paperwork is filed. It is put directly into a computer report, so it seems that DWP should have had access to that report.

PAY THE BILLS :

For everyone in Pacific Palisades who was in collections for failing to pay DWP bills, there is now a moratorium until the end of the year for one to start making payments.

In February, DWP “paused” all billing for customers living in the Palisades.

DWP has decided not to bill water usage starting from the last billing date in January, but if meters are repaired, billing could resume for commercial customers at the end of July and residents at the end of August.

For those who have electric service, the electrical bill will be from the last meter read date until present, because it reflects usage.

Basically, DWP will not bill for the water until August, and will bill for electricity based on usage.  Why don’t they want to estimate bills? Fear of a lawsuit. Because it could be longer than 180 days before a customer receives a bill and in a 2013 class-action lawsuit over billing against the utility and the city of Los Angeles, resulted in $67 million in refunds.

There were 432 customers who had solar credits, whose homes burned or partially burned.  If they rebuild in the Palisades, they will be able to use those credits. Those credits cannot be converted to cash and cannot move them from one property to another. If someone else buys that property those credits cannot go to the new owner.

DWP is holding a Palisades Town Hall from 5 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday July 2. RSVP. click here. LADWP will present on their plans for undergrounding, upgrading water and power services, and the status of the Santa Ynez reservoir. You’ll receive the link to the meeting after you RSVP.