Today's Water Main Break Is in...
Expect even more traffic congestion Monday morning in the Miracle Mile area.
A 12-inch water main ruptured at San Vicente Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue, interrupting service to about four dozen customers, authorities said.
As of 8 a.m., one lane was closed on Fairfax near the rupture. Work is expected to continue for several hours.
The problem was reported about 6 a.m., said Maychelle Yee of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Crews quickly turned off the water and were working to restore service.
It was the latest in a series of water main problems around the city. On Saturday, three other DWP mains broke -- in Sylmar, Encino and the Hollywood Hills.
About 2:45 a.m. Saturday, a 6-inch cast-iron main broke at 5662 Wish Ave. in Encino, causing a sinkhole 6 feet wide and cutting water service to about 50 customers, Yee said. The residential street borders the Balboa Sports Center portion of the Sepulveda Dam Recreational Area.
A smaller leak occurred just after 9 a.m. Saturday on a curvy street high above Laurel Canyon in the Hollywood Hills in the 8700 block of Crescent Drive.
Yee said the Hollywood Hills leak occurred in a 6-inch steel pipe with a "pinhole leak," and no property damage resulted. Four or five homes lost water as the pipe was shut down to accommodate repairs. She said steel pipes rarely burst like cast-iron mains.
About 3 p.m. Saturday, a 12-inch main broke under San Fernando Road near Bleeker Street in Sylmar, knocking out service to at least three commercial customers.
On Sunday, DWP crews repaired a damaged line in Venice -- the 34th major break since Sept. 1. Most of the big breaks have been in the San Fernando Valley.
City officials are trying to determine why there have been so many pipeline ruptures, the largest of which was 62-inch trunk line laid in 1917. That rupture created a big hole in Coldwater Canyon Avenue, just south of Ventura Boulevard, and water ran into several homes and businesses along Ventura.
A USC professor hypothesized that fluctuations in water pressure related to the city's conservation efforts could be putting added stress on the pipelines, but DWP General Manager David Nahai has said he doubted that was the reason.
