Los Angeles Faces 15 Billion in Water Main Repairs

[presence]

“We’re in trouble,” said Jack Humphreville, the budget advocate for L.A.’s advisory neighborhood councils. His estimate, based on figures provided by the city, is that getting public works into good shape will take $10 billion to $15 billion. “This is no different from debt.”


A 30-foot geyser that spewed some 20 million gallons of water from a ruptured [93 year old ] trunk line under Sunset Boulevard on July 29 brought renewed attention to the decay.

Los Angeles is showing its age, and city officials don’t have plans for financing the facelift.
From buckling sidewalks to potholed thoroughfares to storm drains that can’t handle a little rain, the infrastructure that holds the second-largest U.S. city together is suffering from years of deferred maintenance. Bringing pipes that deliver water to 3.9 million people up to snuff could cost $4 billion -- more than half the city’s annual operating budget. The bill for repaving streets will be almost that much, according to estimates from a city consultant, and patching or replacing cracked sidewalks will require $640 million.
City Council members recently gave up on a proposal to ask voters for a sales-tax increase to finance street and sidewalk repairs, and Mayor Eric Garcetti has ruled out raising water rates anytime soon to upgrade pipelines.

[h=2]Trunk-Line Bust[/h] “We can’t tax our way out of this,” said Councilman Mitchell Englander. Voters won’t approve adding to the local sales tax -- which at 9 percent is among the nation’s highest -- and would revolt if the price of water went up, he said. As it is, the rate is the seventh-highest in the U.S., according to a survey by the conservation nonprofit Circle of Blue.
The riveted-steel line that burst under Sunset is 90 years old. To replace every line by the time it hits 100 -- as many engineers recommend -- would require a 4 percent boost in water rates every year, according to City Councilman Paul Koretz.


“It’s so much work,” he said. “We have infrastructure in need of replacing at a quicker rate than we have been.”


Many cities and states are in the same rusty boat, having put off investing in bridges, wastewater systems, dams and other public works that need regular maintenance and upgrades. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates the country would have to spend $3.6 trillion to get the nation’s infrastructure in decent working order by 2020.
[h=2]‘Difficult Politically’[/h] The systems that treat and distribute drinking water in the U.S. need $384 billion in upgrades over the next 20 years, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, while the National Association of Water Companies says the bill for California is $74 billion.


Those extensive investments for the very long-term aren’t the kind voters are easily persuaded to back, said Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles. “Infrastructure is a very difficult thing politically. It’s not the same as putting more cops on the streets.”
New York City has 6,800 miles of water mains and is spending about $716 million on capital improvements this year, while L.A. has 7,225 miles and spends $766 million annually, according to statistics from the two cities.
[h=2]Existing Resources[/h] About 240 miles of L.A.’s pipes are more than a century old, James McDaniel, senior assistant general manager of the Department of Water and Power, told the the City Council’s energy and environment committee on Aug. 6.


The utility replaces only about 18 miles of pipe per year rather than the 34 miles officials called for in 2012. McDaniel said managers want to be able to replace pipes at a rate of every 170 years -- which would be an improvement over the present change-out pace of every 315 years.


Garcetti, a Democrat elected last year after running on a “back to basics” platform, has said he doesn’t favor tax or water-rate increases to fund improvements, and he hasn’t proposed bond measures. He has said existing resources should be used more wisely.


As for the July 29 rupture, the cause was a bad joint, not an old pipe the city should have replaced, he said. Still, “we pay for this one way or another,” he told reporters Aug. 4. “If a main breaks, that cost comes back to ratepayers.”
[h=2]Back Seat[/h] When it comes to roadways, car owners pay. L.A. motorists spend an average $832 a year on repairs and other operating costs because of the shabby condition of city streets, according to a 2013 report by TRIP, a Washington-based transportation group. The amount is the highest in the country and 71 percent more than the urban-area average, the report found.


Los Angeles has spent $300 million in the last three years on paving, according to a city audit. The Bureau of Street Services gave about 40 percent of streets grades of D and F. Fixing those 8,200 lane-miles would cost an estimated $4 billion, according to an audit by Controller Ron Galperin.


Englander and fellow Councilman Joe Buscaino had backed a $3 billion road-repair bond measure before withdrawing the idea over concerns it might jeopardize a proposed sales-tax increase on the March 2013 ballot, which failed anyway.


The pair later proposed a half-cent raise in the sales tax, to 9.5 percent, to pay for improving streets and sidewalks. They gave up on that idea in June, saying budget pressures meant infrastructure had to take a back seat. The city should devote what money it has to preventing streets, pipelines and other infrastructure from slipping further into disrepair, Englander said, and apply for state and federal grants.


“Our children will inherit this problem unless we do something about it soon,” he said. “The cost doubles about every 10 years.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-11/l-a-faces-15-billion-bill-as-pipes-spring-leaks-cities.html

 

[mad cow]

Forget it,Jake.It's Chinatown.

 

[dannno]

This next big rain season should be interesting.

 

[Zippyjuan]

San Diego has been slowly replacing our water pipe system. A lot of major cities have similar problems with aging infrastructure and no money to bring them up to date. Some of the systems back East in particular are over 100 years old.

This next big rain season should be interesting.

I believe they are still saying possible El Nino this year which can mean very heavy rains (compared to normal) for the SouthWest.

Update: I see they are still saying probable but lowered the odds a bit:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...ervice-backtracking-some-on-el-nino-forecast/

Many meteorologists thought El Nino was a done deal this year, or close to it. Turns out, like an obstinate dog, the would-be El Nino has balked.

The National Weather Service today reduced the odds El Nino will develop by next winter from 80 percent to 65 percent.
“We’ve gone from an estimated 1-in-5 chance that we won’t have an El Nino to a nearly 1-in-3 chance,” notes the NWS El Nino blog.
The warming of tropical Pacific ocean waters required for El Nino to develop has actually reversed in the past month. And the atmospheric signal of El Nino has yet to emerge.

“As of the beginning of August, we still haven’t seen a strong atmospheric response … and the sea-surface temperature in the central-Eastern Pacific has cooled,” the El Nino blog says.

Although ocean temperatures are headed in the wrong direction for an El Nino event, NWS climate analyst Michelle L’Heureux told Climate Central that of the seven El Ninos since 1990, a June to July ocean cooling event occurred in three instances – 1994, 2004 and 2006 — before warming resumed. “So there is precedent for this, I guess, sort of summertime lull,” L’Heureux said.

Article from four days ago.

 

[PRB]

San Diego has been slowly replacing our water pipe system. A lot of major cities have similar problems with aging infrastructure and no money to bring them up to date. Some of the systems back East in particular are over 100 years old.

No money to bring them up to date? I bet you they'll magically find the money when mains break.

 

[thoughtomator]

maybe they can take up a collection from all their illegal aliens... put some charity boxes in emergency rooms see what you get

 

[Zippyjuan]

No money to bring them up to date? I bet you they'll magically find the money when mains break.

Short term- it is cheaper to fix the break than replace all the hundreds of miles of pipes. Long term it is cheaper to replace since they should not need fixed as often.

 

[tod evans]

Wall it off and let her flood....

 

[The Bavarian]

Welcome to the beginning of the third world experience comrades!!

 

[PRB]

Welcome to the beginning of the third world experience comrades!!

third world experience? the government isn't wasting money on infrastructure, that's FREEDOM!

 

[HOLLYWOOD]

Raise Taxes some more... Really turn LA county into an expensive shit hole.

I say bulldoze the whole county in the Pacific ocean and turn it back into orchards and farms.

 

[Bryan]

San Diego has been slowly replacing our water pipe system. A lot of major cities have similar problems with aging infrastructure and no money to bring them up to date. Some of the systems back East in particular are over 100 years old.

To continue on your points... In short, it's all bad central planning, any sort of business that operated like this would go bankrupt. If a piece of infrastructure will last for 100 years you should have a 100 year replacement cycle plan in place and not act like it's some big shock with no money when the bill is due (or things fall apart). News flash- stuff doesn't last forever, plan for it.

In many other similar situations, the planners know this but take money out of the pot for pork projects (which get them reelected, repay favors, etc) and then when it's time for the things people really want (roads, water), which they have already paid for, they get a new tax because they are told there is no money.

 

[fr33]

Imagine if you had to rely on water from natural resources on your own private property and not what some govt takes through coercion. I know that sounds like something outrageous.

 

[Czolgosz]

Good. I hope they raise taxes. More targetted the better.

 

[tod evans]

20% in Los Angeles County receive public aid

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/feb/22/local/me-welfare22

One in five Los Angeles County residents -- nearly 2.2 million people -- are receiving public assistance payments or benefits, a level county officials say will rise significantly over the coming months as the fallout from the recession continues.

[snip]


This is a 2009 article...

LA is done, stick a fork in it.

 

[PRB]

To continue on your points... In short, it's all bad central planning, any sort of business that operated like this would go bankrupt. If a piece of infrastructure will last for 100 years you should have a 100 year replacement cycle plan in place and not act like it's some big shock with no money when the bill is due (or things fall apart). News flash- stuff doesn't last forever, plan for it.

You can have the plan in place, but do you expect people after you to not destroy your plan?