Greenbelt Project Gets Under Way : Reclamation: Five miles of new pipe will bring recycled water to cemeteries, a golf club and Universal Studios.

Mayor Tom Bradley and other city officials broke ground Thursday for the $4.6-million Los Angeles Greenbelt Project, which will supply up to 525 million gallons of recycled water annually to two cemeteries, a golf course and Universal Studios.

The project, scheduled to be completed by November, consists of about five miles of new pipeline running from the Los Angeles-Glendale Water Reclamation Plant to Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Mount Sinai Memorial Park, Lakeside Golf Club of Hollywood and Universal Studios.

The Los Angeles-Glendale Water Reclamation Plant, which now supplies recycled water to parts of Griffith Park, is located between Griffith Park and Glendale, next to the Golden State Freeway. The new pipes will run under existing roads, trails and along the Los Angeles River basin, officials said.

City Council President John Ferraro, who spoke at Thursday’s groundbreaking ceremony in Griffith Park, said the project will help reduce demand for drought-strained supplies of freshwater. “While water conservation will be a solution to our short-term water problems, reclamation provides part of a long-term answer to future freshwater shortages,” he said.

The greenbelt is one of eight Los Angeles water reclamation projects scheduled for completion by 2010, according to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Once completed, the projects could supply up to 40% of the city’s water needs, Board of Water and Power Commissioner Dorothy Green said at the groundbreaking.

The eight projects are expected to cost $500 million.

The greenbelt project will carry treated effluent from the reclamation plant for outdoor watering only. The water will be sold for $280 an acre-foot, 20% less than the usual rate, DWP spokeswoman Debra Sass said. An acre-foot is enough water to cover a football field to a depth of about one foot.

Other projects include the Sepulveda Basin Water Reclamation Project, which will supply 3,500 acre-feet annually of reclaimed water. The first phase of the $3-million project is scheduled to be completed next year.

Also planned is a reclamation project that will supply up to 50,000 acre-feet per year of recycled water to the east San Fernando Valley. Water from the project will be used for industry and irrigation and may replenish ground-water reserves in the East Valley. The project, which is undergoing environmental review, is scheduled to be completed by 1995.

Meanwhile, Glendale and Los Angeles are working on a joint project to move recycled water from the Los Angeles-Glendale Reclamation Plant to Elysian Park and Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale.