Cost to Earthquake-Proof L.A.’s Crumbling Pipe System? $15 Billion
March 23rd, 2015Bone dry death trap… I wonder when I first used that term on here to describe where I’m from. Google spits up results from 2007, but I’m almost sure there are earlier ones.
Anyway, quick hint about the phrase “mass evacuation”: You won’t want to be a part of that. Mmmkay?
Via: Los Angeles Times:
Mayor Eric Garcetti’s call to strengthen Los Angeles’ water system — one pillar of his ambitious plan to ready the city for a major earthquake — would cost as much as $15 billion and require decades of work, Department of Water and Power engineers estimate.
The previously undisclosed cost projection, contained in an internal DWP report reviewed by the Los Angeles Times, could mean sharply higher water bills for those who live and work in L.A. It also underscores the financial uncertainty surrounding a key element of the mayor’s first-term agenda.
Since Garcetti announced his sweeping earthquake-safety proposal in December, public attention and political debate have centered on requirements to strengthen unsafe buildings. But the plan’s most far-reaching impact could be its scheme to fortify the city’s sprawling network of water pipes and aqueducts.
Water infrastructure is “the single biggest vulnerability we’re facing in Southern California,” according to U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones, who oversaw development of Garcetti’s earthquake proposals. Safeguarding the system is essential, the mayor argues, to prevent businesses from shutting down and a “mass evacuation” by people who lack water to drink, shower or flush toilets in the aftermath of a severe earthquake on the southern San Andreas fault.
