Water main break closes Beverly Hills road for 7 hours; L.A. pipes aging

A canyon road in Beverly Hills will remain closed for about seven hours as crews repair a water main break and clean up after flooding.

Benedict Canyon Drive will be closed from Mulholland to Hutton drives.

The water main break caused flooding at about 7:18 a.m. along the 3200 block of Benedict Canyon Drive, prompting crews to close the road, LAFD spokesman Shawn Lenske said.

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power crews were sent to work on the 12-inch cast-iron pipe, utility spokesman Albert Rodriguez said.

“There is still a lot of assessment going on,” he said.

It is unknown how many customers were affected by the flooding or how much water was lost.

Crews were working Tuesday morning to shut off the water valves, which were not at the break point.

Since 2010, the LADWP has reported more than 5,200 pipe leaks in Los Angeles. A recent Los Angeles Times analysis found the average age of L.A.’s water pipes is 58 years, two-thirds were installed before 1950, and 5% of the water main pipes have hit or passed their expected useful lives.

The city gives letter grades to pipes based on how likely they are to burst and cause major property damage. Six percent of the system has grades of D and F. The pipes involved in the massive rupture last summer on Sunset Boulevard near UCLA had been given C and D grades.

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