Los Angeles City Council Authorizes $42M for Earthquake-Resistant LADWP Water Mains in San Fernando Valley

LOS ANGELES, CA — The Los Angeles City Council approved a $42-million capital infrastructure authorization on Sunday afternoon, directing the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to replace 14 miles of aging municipal water trunk lines with earthquake-resistant ductile iron pipe (ERDIP) across the San Fernando Valley.

Seismic Resiliency and Piping Engineering

The water main replacement project targets 1940s-era cast-iron pipes along major valley transit arterials in Van Nuys, Panorama City, and North Hollywood. The specialized Japanese-engineered ERDIP pipes feature flexible segmented joints capable of expanding, contracting, and rotating during severe ground deformation without shearing or rupturing.

LADWP engineers reported that the upgraded water trunk mains are designed to withstand major magnitude 7.0+ seismic fault ruptures on the nearby San Fernando and Northridge fault systems, preserving critical municipal firefighting water pressure during natural disasters.

"Modernizing our underground water infrastructure protects reliable drinking water delivery for valley neighborhoods and ensures our firefighters have water pressure after major earthquakes," LADWP leadership stated in Los Angeles.

Minimizing Street Disruption

Civil construction crews will execute pipelaying operations utilizing specialized horizontal directional boring and localized open trenches, maintaining two-way traffic flow on major commercial boulevards during daytime business hours.

Neighborhood business chambers supported the proactive infrastructure upgrades, noting that preventing catastrophic water main breaks protects small retail storefronts from severe flood damage.

Construction Timeline

Phase 1 pipelaying will commence along Van Nuys Boulevard in October 2026, with the full San Fernando Valley seismic grid upgrades completed by late 2027.