DWP Considers Filtration Plants for 4 Reservoirs : Water: The plan for the facilities in the Santa Monica Mountains stems from new state standards. A senator accuses officials of holding ‘covert’ meetings.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is considering building filtration plants at four open reservoirs in the Santa Monica Mountains to meet newly imposed state water-quality standards.

The plan, which would cost $400 million, would involve the Encino Reservoir, the Lower Stone Canyon Reservoir north of Bel-Air and the Upper and Lower Hollywood reservoirs.

DWP officials have hired a mediator for discussions with reservoir neighbors in an attempt to avoid the public outcry that arose from earlier plans to cover certain reservoirs, said Cecilia Trehuba, DWP waterworks engineer.

But some residents and at least one elected official, state Sen. Herschel Rosenthal (D-Los Angeles), have criticized meetings held by the DWP, the mediator and a coalition of reservoir neighbors because they prohibit news coverage and limit the number of participants.

“I disapprove of the department’s covert activities which, I understand, even requires that those select few included in the discussion process must take a vow of secrecy in order to participate,” Rosenthal said in a Jan. 17 letter to Daniel Waters, general manager of the DWP.

DWP officials said all information will be presented to the public at informal community meetings and in formal hearings before a final decision is made.

“This is just one step in a long series of steps that will involve all sorts of participation and debate and review,” said Bruce Kuebler, DWP director of water quality. “I think what we have is a process to deal with the people most directly affected in a way we felt was beneficial.”

The DWP was notified in October that four of its 11 open reservoirs fall under the state Surface Water Treatment Rule, a version of a federal regulation enacted by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1989.

The rule imposes tougher health standards on reservoirs in which ground water is allowed to flow. The ground water carries debris and animal feces that can lead to contamination of drinking water with viruses and bacteria such as Giardia, which causes serious diarrhea, state officials said.

The DWP has seen no health problems associated with the water, Kuebler said. But to meet the state rule, the DWP must install filtration plants at the reservoirs, abandon or cover them, or install diversion systems that prevent water from flowing into them, officials said.

Some of the reservoirs are too large to cover, Trehuba said. But cement canals used in diversion systems would ruin the natural look of the reservoirs, which many neighborhoods refer to as lakes. The DWP cannot afford to abandon all the reservoirs, which provide 20% of the city’s water and store additional supplies in case of emergencies such as fires, she said.

DWP officials believe that building three filtration plants is the most viable solution, Trehuba said. The two Hollywood reservoirs would share one filtration plant. However, no decisions have been made, Trehuba said.

Trehuba said it is not known how big the filtration plants would be or what they might look like. DWP officials have discussed trying to disguise the facilities--perhaps as single-family houses--in order to lessen their effect on neighborhoods, she said.

Nonetheless, residents are concerned. “Nobody wants a huge big industrial plant in their back yard,” said Sharon Garapedian, whose house overlooks the Encino Reservoir in a neighborhood where houses cost $500,000 to $2 million.

DWP officials have been discussing options with representatives from groups around the Stone Canyon Reservoir and the Hollywood reservoirs since December, 1990, in an effort to improve the quality of water in the reservoirs and in preparation for such a rule, officials said.

Some discussions have taken place at meetings with DWP staff members, The Mediation Institute of Woodland Hills and the Coalition to Preserve Open Reservoirs, which consists of representatives from 19 groups concerned with five reservoirs.

Meetings have been closed to the media and usually to people not designated as community representatives, said mediator Alana Knaster. Six Encino neighborhood organizations recently formed a coalition to negotiate with the DWP and The Mediation Institute.