Monterey Park Seeks State Probe of Reservoir Leak

Continuing to question the safety of Garvey Reservoir, city officials have urged the state to investigate a leak that flooded nearby houses this fall.

The Monterey Park City Council has sent letters about the matter to Assemblyman Charles M. Calderon (D-Montebello) and Sen. Joseph B. Montoya (D-Whittier). In addition, City Manager Mark Lewis wrote Vernon H. Persson, chief of the Division of Safety of Dams in the state Department of Water Resources.

“Repairs without adequate investigation would do nothing to restore public confidence,” the City Council members wrote.

Their letter emphasized that the 41-acre reservoir may be in a bad location since it “is surrounded by homes and . . . a seismic fault runs below it.”

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which owns and operates Garvey Reservoir, said it is aware of these concerns. But the district argued that the reservoir is close to many customers and its hilltop location allows the treated water to be delivered by gravity.

Said Lewis: “We’re really requesting that the state have a public review process before giving an OK to refill the reservoir. The whole point is to assure the residents that the reservoir is safe to operate.”

Divers discovered a leak in the bottom of the reservoir Nov. 27, several weeks after residents to the west complained that their yards and the foundations of their houses had been flooded. Since then, the water district has drained the reservoir and drilled holes to pump water from the earth near more than a dozen houses along Fulton Drive.

The district has also been working to repair the leak in the reservoir, which is an important link in the water supply for consumers in southern and central Los Angeles County.

Persson, chief of the state division of dam safety that is overseeing the repairs, said his office “will perform an independent review” of the district’s studies of the reservoir. He said the district must prove that the reservoir has been safely restored.

The repairs could take as long as three months, district spokesman Bob Gomperz said. “It’s a tedious process.”