Reclaimed, Treated Water : Glendale OKs Pipeline for Forest Lawn Irrigation

The Glendale City Council on Tuesday approved an agreement to provide Forest Lawn with up to 200 million gallons of reclaimed water each year for landscape irrigation.

Under the agreement, the city will build a $1.5-million pipeline to transport water from the Los Angeles-Glendale water reclamation plant on the east bank of the Los Angeles River just below Colorado Street to the cemetery two miles away. Forest Lawn will pay for the treated sewage water at a rate of 75% of the cost of drinking water.

Plans to pipe treated water to Forest Lawn in an effort to save fresh water have been proposed for years.

On Feb. 6, the city received final written approval from Forest Lawn Vice President John F. Clough, who agreed to use treated water on the cemetery’s 125 acres of manicured lawns.

City Manager David Ramsay told council members that he hopes the Forest Lawn agreement will become the first in a series of similar accords.

The city already provides treated water to its steam plant on San Fernando Road.

Public Service Director W. E. Cameron said Forest Lawn was targeted by the city to become its first reclaimed water customer because it is “the largest one-site user close to the reclaimed water plant.”

The pipeline’s construction will begin in January and should be finished by August, 1990, Cameron said.

The city is studying plans to use treated water at many of its Parks and Recreation facilities, Cameron added, and negotiations with Oakmont Country Club are under way to use reclaimed water to irrigate the club’s 18-hole golf course.