Bottled Water Offer in Valley Raises Ire in South-Central Area : Environment: Residents whose water was fouled this summer wonder why they weren’t given a similar deal. DWP says the first problem occurred ‘naturally.’

For the first time in its 88-year history, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is offering to pay for bottled water for customers this week after an error by DWP workers caused faucets in the San Fernando Valley to spew murky, smelly water.

The department’s unprecedented decision has prompted outrage among representatives of South-Central Los Angeles, because DWP officials failed to make a similar offer this summer when brown midge fly larvae resembling worms came pouring out of faucets there.

The issue is whether the policy is implemented throughout Los Angeles “on an equitable basis,” and “it would seem there is some degree of partiality,” said Bob Gay, a spokesman for City Councilman Gilbert Lindsay, who represents much of South-Central Los Angeles.

Councilman Robert Farrell attributed the discrepancy to the racial composition of the DWP Commission, whose five members are appointed by Mayor Tom Bradley. Carol Wheeler, the commission’s only black member, resigned in July at the request of the mayor, who then appointed Mary Nichols, an attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

“When I opposed the replacement of the only African-American member of the DWP board, it was because I was concerned about someone looking out for the residents of South and East Los Angeles,” Farrell said in a prepared statement. “It would seem my concerns were well-placed.”

Farrell and Gay called for the DWP to develop a written policy on reimbursing residents whose water supplies are temporarily tainted.

“I think there are probably more DWP employees living in the Valley than in South-Central, and their decision may have been based on that,” Gay said. “When it’s subjective like that, it’s always open to accusation.

“There ought to be a more objective response to emergency water-quality concerns than to rely purely on human nature,” he said.

But DWP officials said their decision was based on objective criteria, not on residents’ race or economic class.

They said they offered to pay for bottled water in the San Fernando Valley because workers draining a reservoir in Granada Hills earlier this week made a mistake that released sand, silt and algae into pipes supplying water to about 300,000 homes in the central part of the Valley from Reseda to Sherman Oaks. The other affected communities are Granada Hills, Van Nuys and North Hollywood.

DWP officials could not give a precise estimate of how many homes actually are receiving murky water. The water, which officials said is unpleasant but safe, is expected to return to normal by Sunday.

Department officials said they did not offer bottled water to residents of South-Central Los Angeles this summer when the fly larvae came pouring out of faucets because that problem was “naturally occurring,” not the result of department error.

“You take these scenarios as they come,” said Harvey Lutske, chief DWP claims agent. “We treat the guy who lives in South-Central just like we treat the guy who lives south of Ventura.”

Bob Yoshimura, an assistant engineer for the DWP, said workers immediately closed and vacuumed the Silver Lake Reservoir after South-Central residents began complaining about the larvae. That reservoir also serves several hundred thousand people.

Lutske estimated that it will cost the department at most $20,000 to reimburse Valley residents for the bottled water they use this week. He said the department will not pay for “$50 worth of Perrier or five cases of Evian . . . or any trendy, sophisticated waters.”

To receive a refund, DWP customers are asked to send copies of their receipts to the DWP at P.O. Box 111, Los Angeles, 90012; Attention: Claims, Room 1848. Residents will not be asked for proof of murky water, officials said.