2/3 of Malibu Remains Under ‘Boil Water’ Order, Free Bottles Also Avail At Malibu High

Two thirds of Malibu remains under a “boil water” order today … the water coming out of the taps in the majority of the city should be considered unfit for human consumption.

And now LA County has added a second location to pick up free bottled water: at Malibu High School … above Zuma Beach.

This comes after crews working for Caltrans encountered delays while trying to replace a 50 year old high pressure water junction deep under the intersection of PCH at Corral Canyon Road.

A complicated … custom-built piece of pipe did not fit … had to be remachined … and then reinstalled.

Waterworks spokesman Kerjon Lee told KBUU yesterday … it was a Caltrans mistake.

71464 PRESSURE KERJON LEE

“Caltrans began its work on the bridge, and as part of that work, they needed to disconnect an 18 inch watermain pipe that feeds into our waterworks district number 29.

“Residents experienced pressure reduction in water pressure yesterday, and we (put out a) notice) that they should be using water only for essential indoor use.

“Now the pipe has been reconnected, it has been re-charged and tested.

“But it is going to take some time tho it’s gonna take some time for water pressure to return.

“That means that low water pressure was experienced in the system, and it caused us to issue a boil water notice for customers west of Malibu Canyon Road.

Q: “This really means you can use it for washing, and bathing, but you can’t consume it unless you boil the water first and let it cool. Or use bottled water, right?”

A: “That’s exactly right Hans.

“We’re actually going to begin distributing bottled water from our waterworks headquarters on Civic Center Way right next to the Malibu library in Malibu.

“We will be doing that for the next two or three days.

“We are testing the water for pathogens and that’s the reason for the boiled water notice.

“And it takes a good two days for those tests to come back, so that’s the reason why the water works will be advising for boiling for two days.”

Q: “Now sometimes you need to put extra chlorine in the system, I will bet you that has not been determined to be necessary yet

A:  “I will have to check with my systems expert on that.

“But right now we’re only issuing the boil water notice out of caution, because of that low water pressure.”

The mishap left 7200 people in Malibu without fresh clean water filling their water reservoir tanks.

Neither Caltrans not LA County Waterworks gave any public notice that the water was off.

In fact … KBUU had been told that the pipe was fixed and water was flowing at 9 the night before .… Tuesday night

Malibu faucets began running dry at 7 am … while we were on the air quoting the official word … that the pipes had been fixed.

It was not until midday yesterday that the county figured out what had happened and began warning people not to drink the water when it came back up … which happened yesterday afternoon.
Some people had to wait into the evening for water to flow … as county crews had to drive to some locations to ope valves and “bleed” the system of air bubbles that blocked water flow.

Worse … it appears that the L A County fire department was not notified that fire hydrants in the western half of the city were drying out.

The City of Malibu was left out of the loop … officials there said yesterday they got contradictory and incomplete information from county waterworks and Caltrans.

The water problem in Malibu is on a different water supply … operated by a different government. … than the big water supply issue in Porter Ranch.

That was a city of LA issue.

But the water supply interruption … and the lack of information … was too much for some Malibu residents.

The frequent power outages … road closures … iffy cellphone and Internet … and now the water.

Inconsistent and frequently wrong information coming from the various public agencies … including Malibu city hall … a major concern… voiced again last night.

Free water can be picked up at two locations: at Malibu high school on Morning View Drive above Zuma Beach… and at the county waterworks office on Civic Center Way … near the Malibu Library … in downtown Malibu.