ENCINO : Filtration Plant Subject of Meeting

Officials from the city Department of Water and Power will field questions tonight about a controversial proposal to build a five-acre water filtration plant on or near the Encino Reservoir.

Questions about the safety of chemicals that would be used in the plant’s operation and regarding any impact a plant might have on wildlife are among those expected to be addressed at the 7:30 p.m. meeting of the Encino Reservoir Coalition at the Encino Community Center at 4935 Balboa Blvd.

Ongoing debate over the proposed plant’s location has raised concerns--especially among its potential lakeside neighbors--about the shipment and storage of potentially lethal chemicals such as chlorine and ozone.

“We want to address some of the concerns over safety,” said Cecilia Weldon, a DWP waterworks engineer who serves as a liaison between the department and the public.

And Weldon said that although selection of a site is not imminent, the department wants to keep the public informed.

“What we’re trying to do is to keep this moving along,” she said. “We don’t want to stop the process while we are looking for the site.”

At a meeting last month, city officials presented five sites for a filtration plant, three of them on the shores of the reservoir.

The reservoir is subject to untreated runoff of rain from surrounding hillsides, and officials have expressed concern that it may fall out of compliance with clean water rules when new, tougher standards go into effect next month.