Any updates, forecasts or firsthand reports?

-- SH (squirrel@huntr.com), December 15, 1999

Answers

Use this link to find current news items about the situation...

http://search.excite.com/search.gw?callerfarm=nt&collection=hourtime&s earch=%2B%22orange+county%22+%2Bwater

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), December 15, 1999.

Check out the local paper... The Orange County Register...

http://www.ocregister.com/

Water cutbacks on tap

INFRASTRUCTURE: Schools, businesses and homes pitch in to conserve, a day after a major pipeline break.

December 15, 1999

By GARY ROBBINS, JIM
RADCLIFFE
and ElIZABETH CHEY
The Orange County Register

http:// www.ocregister.com/community/watx15w.shtml

[Fair Use: For Educational/Research Purposes Only]

Major construction sites, greenbelt gardeners and property-management firms were forced into mandatory water conservation Tuesday, a day after the worst rupture in decades crippled one of the main pipelines that delivers imported water to arid south Orange County.

Schools and cities pitched in too, shutting off sprinklers to campuses, parks and water fountains.

Most of south county's 700,000 residents were asked to voluntarily conserve water while the Metropolitan Water District repairs the line, an effort that won't be completed until at least Monday.

A major rupture occurred in a 20-foot section of the buried Allen- McColloch Pipeline on Monday, possibly because the water flow suddenly spiked to 4.5 million gallons per hour from 3.2 million gallons. That may have created enough pressure to blow a 10-foot-wide hole in a weakened section of line that sent pieces of concrete and water surging 25 feet to the surface. The rupture occurred along Portola Parkway, near the Foothill (241) Toll Road east of Irvine.

The break forced MWD to shut down the southern half of the 26-mile pipe, which extends from Yorba Linda to Mission Viejo. The agency diverted water into a second pipeline to ensure that south-county residents have adequate water and sufficient water pressure to fight wildfires.

South-county water agencies will use their interconnecting water lines to share resources until the problem is fixed.

"We should be OK if they repair the pipe by next Monday," said Dave Seymour, operations manager for the Santa Margarita Water District, which serves 85,000 people in parts of Mission Viejo and all of Rancho Santa Margarita, Coto de Caza, Los Flores, Ladera Ranch and Talega.

The 21-year-old pipe, which suffered a smaller rupture in 1987, is one of two lines that transports more than 90 percent of the water consumed in south county. MWD says it inspected the interior of the line in March 1996 and found no problems. Such pipes typically last at least 50 years.

MWD officials aren't sure what caused the rupture, which the agency didn't report to the public until more than five hours after it was discovered. But engineers say it's possible that the steel girdle inside the pipe eroded, eliminating support for the line's 7.5-inch- thick concrete shell.

The rupture may represent a well-known design flaw in so-called prestressed concrete water lines, MWD officials said.

"We would not use that particular type of pipe if we were building a line today," said Jill Wicke, MWD's water systems operation manager.

Wicke said the broken section of line will be replaced with one or more sections of three-fourth-inch steel pipe that's being rolled today in LaVerne.

MWD officials will huddle at some point and examine whether south Orange County would be better served if it had another major pipeline, and whether the inspection procedures meant to ward off such ruptures are adequate, Wicke said.

Still, water officials said, the rerouting of water works to ensure that the region doesn't suffer a major hiccup in service. Each of the 11 water districts that rely on the broken pipeline to various degrees have connections to their neighboring districts.

"You know when you have a traffic jam?" said Kenneth Petersen, general manager of Los Alisos Water District, which serves much of Lake Forest. "Water works like that. You find other ways around. That's what's neat about this."

The break forced Merit Property Management, which has 94 affected clients in south county, including large housing developments in Rancho Santa Margarita, Merit and Coto de Caza, to do without watering their landscaping on Tuesday.

"Nothing like this has ever happened before," said Lesly Martin, a Merit spokeswoman.

Developers of two massive housing projects under construction lucked out. They had already made plans to get water elsewhere, because the Santa Margarita Water District was moving a pipeline connected to the one that burst to make way for the construction of Tesoro High, outside Coto de Caza.

So when the district shut off 2 1/2 million gallons a day to the Ladera Ranch development, an 8,100-home project east of Mission Viejo, and 9.7 million daily gallons for several days to the 4,500-home Talega community, developers were somewhat prepared.

Construction crews at Ladera Ranch already planned to draw water from a well on property owned by the Moiso-O'Neill family, which is building the community.

"It had no impact on us," said Diane Gaynor, a spokeswoman for the family. "None."

At the 4,500-home Talega development in San Clemente, construction crews had only planned to do minimal grading, although that might be halted because of the pipeline's rupture.

"We knew we were going to be shut down a few days," said General Manager Patrick Hayes. "We set aside a day or two of water. Frankly, we don't have that much going on from a grading point of view. We can do other things, although you do need water to build a project."

Public agencies throughout south county pitched in on their own to help the region get through the water crunch.

The city of Laguna Hills stopped watering seven parks. The sprinklers won't be turned off at three other city parks, which use reclaimed water.

Both Capistrano and Saddleback Valley Unified school districts shut down all irrigation to their sports fields, landscaping and playgrounds.

Capistrano district officials sent e-mails to all 42 principals, advising them to prevent any water waste.

"We asked the principals to check for leaks in water fountains or bathrooms," said Dan Crawford, assistant superintendent of Capistrano Unified. "Water conservation is just common sense."

Drinking water for students and staff has not been affected, but the district has taken precautions. Additional bottles of water are being stockpiled, and portable toilets have been reserved, said Crawford.

In Irvine, school maintenance crews spot-checked three schools for water pressure loss, but found nothing. The district will continue watering its fields, because it uses reclaimed water.

School officials say they don't expect too much inconvenience for students, since most kids go on holiday break by the end of this week.

(Note: other links off that page)

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), December 15, 1999.

Gee, I wonder what caused the pressure spike.

-- Forrest Covington (theforrest@mindspring.com), December 15, 1999.

The latest Thursday 12/16/99

Orange County Register, Anaheim CA page 10

"In the district's L.A. office, they're analyzing the computer data showing flow rates and water pressure to determine what went wrong.

Officials are exploring whether an automated valve opened or closed, causing the surge. Increased pressure could have created a "water hammer" - or wave - that crashed into the pipe and damaged it. Corrosion is another potential culprit under investigation."

Hopefully this wasn't Y2K but I am also watching the story about the Water Treatment Plant in Huntington, IN that exploded. (About 30 - 50 threads up.)

-- Dana (A_Non_O_Moose@xxx.com), December 16, 1999.