Pipeline Expands Reclaimed Water Use : Conservation: Forest Lawn cemetery taps into a new line, becoming the first major commercial customer in Glendale.

A 50-foot cascade of water signaled the arrival Wednesday of the first of 100 million gallons of reclaimed water to be used each year in decorative fountains and on landscaping at Forest Lawn Memorial-Park in Glendale.

Completion of a 2.2-mile pipeline from the Los Angeles-Glendale Water Reclamation Plant to the cemetery marks the first major commercial use in Glendale of waste water that otherwise would be channeled into the ocean, said Donald R. Froelich, city water services administrator.

The treated sewage, which meets the same bacterial standards as drinking water, is being used to operate decorative fountains and irrigate 211 acres of landscaped terrain at Forest Lawn. A dual pipeline at the cemetery separates the waste-water system from drinking fountains.

The amount of reclaimed water being used in the cemetery represents a savings in drinking water to meet the annual needs of 2,200 people, said Glendale Mayor Ginger Bremberg, who was among the officials who turned on the park entrance fountain in a ceremony Wednesday. The fountain had been turned off 10 months ago to save water.

Glendale is selling the reclaimed water for 25% less than tap water; Forest Lawn expects to recover its almost $500,000 pipeline cost over the next 10 years.

Completion of the $2.5-million pipeline, approved in 1989, was delayed 18 months after Los Angeles asked Glendale to increase the pipeline’s capacity, so that water eventually could also be piped to Elysian Park, Froelich said. Los Angeles contributed $1 million to the project.

Glendale city engineers are designing a second, 3.5-mile pipeline along Glendale Avenue that will deliver waste water to Caltrans for freeway irrigation and for use at Scholl Canyon Landfill, Oakmont Country Club and schools and parks along the way, Froelich said.

The city is negotiating with Pasadena for possible extension of the line to Devil’s Gate Reservoir, the Rose Bowl and the Arroyo Seco area. Construction of that line, to cost $2.5 million for Glendale’s portion, could begin by late this year, Froelich said.

A third pipeline is proposed to carry waste water to the privately owned Grand View Memorial Park cemetery and the city’s Brand Park, a recreational area in the northern section of the city.

Glendale and Los Angeles have jointly owned and operated the treatment plant on Colorado Street west of the Golden State Freeway since 1976. Some of its output has been used to cool industrial equipment, such as engines at the nearby Glendale city power plant and to irrigate parks and freeway landscaping.

Even with the new pipeline, 12- to 15-million gallons a day still goes to the ocean.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which imports water from the Colorado River and Northern California, has approved subsidies for about 20 reclamation projects in the region, including Glendale’s. The need for such projects has become increasingly critical in the wake of the six-year drought, officials said.

A reclaimed water system, expanded throughout the city “may be the closest thing we have to a drought-buster,” said James M. Rez, former Glendale city manager and a director of the MWD. He said Glendale plans to spend more than $20 million in the next four years on reclaimed water projects.

Glendale Public Services Director Michael Hopkins said the system ultimately could save about 1 billion gallons of potable water a year, enough to meet the annual needs of 22,000 people.