Water Board OKs Drilling of 5 Wells in N. Hollywood

The drilling of five water wells in North Hollywood has been approved by the Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners in its latest move to improve the quality of the city’s water supply.

A $711,841 contract to drill the five 800-foot wells is part of a $7-million to $8-million plan for 16 wells and a 60-inch pipeline in North Hollywood, scheduled for completion by the end of 1987 or early 1988, said Henry Venegas, senior planning engineer for the Department of Water and Power.

The DWP has stopped pumping water from about a dozen North Hollywood wells because of high levels of industrial solvents.

Venegas said the new wells are below residential areas and will draw ground water that DWP officials believe to be free of the solvents, trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene.

The pipeline and well system will allow the San Fernando Valley area to continue supplying 15% of Los Angeles’ water supply and to transport more water from the Los Angeles aqueduct system, Venegas said.

When completed, the five wells, which were approved Thursday, would bring the total of new wells to 11, DWP spokesman Ed Freudenburg said.

The DWP also hopes that pumping station improvements and the construction of an aeration tower, designed to remove solvents through evaporation, will allow resumed use of at least some of the contaminated wells.

The Board of Water and Power Commissioners has approved a $6.7-million contract for the collection pipeline, as well as plans for the aeration tower. Some community groups have opposed approval of the tower before the completion of an environmental impact study.