USC Professor: LA’s Aging Water Pipes Will Only Get Worse

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STUDIO CITY (CBSLA.com) — Tuesday'swater-main breakinWestwoodcertainly wasn't the first rupture of an aging underground pipe in Los Angeles.

Back in 2009, a 64-inch pipe, one of the largest in L.A., burst in Studio City, flooding surrounding homes and businesses.

UCLA WATER MAIN BREAK PHOTO GALLERY

An expert on infrastructure now tells CBS2's Kristine Lazar that when it comes to the city's underground water system, things are only expected to getworse.

"Los Angeles has around 20 percent of the network more than a 100 years old. So those pipes, they have a life cycle of 100 years. So 20 percent of the network is vulnerable," said Lucio Soibelman, a professor at USC's School of Engineering.

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http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/07/30/usc-professor-las-aging-water-pipes-will-only-get-worse/

2 Answers

  1. Interesting comment, Thanks Karina for sharing! I'd guess that no one (no engineers back in 100 years ago really thought about the timing of replacing the pipe system. Hopefully, we have advanced technologies and engineers to cope with the situation.

  2. Timely replacing aging infrastructure would save much money and limit business interruptions. In the Netherlands the problem of aging sewage system is also a current issue in major cities. One example is Nijmegen, where the city council realized replacing the structures simultaneously would be impossible and deliberated with citizens in the different areas on how to go about the time schedule of replacing the old structures. An important problem in Nijmegen is how to manage archaeological findings when performing engineering work underground, as the city was originally founded by Romans and many remains of 2000 years old can still be found. The issues of how to prioritize between timely replacement, not interrupting local businesses, and treating historical artifacts are discussed between several stakeholders before commencing the actual work, in different phases. This is combined with informing residents about the possibilities of decoupling the rainwater they collected from their roofs or gardens from the sewer and saving it for water use; as well as new asphalt and street lights. An example can be found here (in Dutch, with pictures): http://www.degroesbeek.nl/lokaal-nieuws/40171/voorbereidingen-werkzaamheden-pannenstraat-van-start/