LOS ANGELES COUNTY : Deadlines Set for Building 3 Water Filtration Plants

A series of deadlines were set Tuesday requiring city water officials to build three water filtration facilities to serve four reservoirs at a cost of $500 million.

The plants will help city water supplies meet state standards for purity, but their construction could cost Department of Water and Power customers an average of $3.20 per month for the next 10 years, starting next July.

Under an agreement signed Tuesday by DWP Commissioners and the State Department of Health Services, the utility is required to purify drinking water exposed to the elements in Encino, Hollywood and Stone Canyon reservoirs.

“This basically formalizes something we’ve been working on for quite some time,” said Bruce Kuebler, DWP director of water quality. “It’s a major undertaking.” Under the agreement, the work on a filtration plant at Stone Canyon will be completed in 1998, Upper and Lower Hollywood Reservoirs by 2001, and Encino Reservoir by January, 2003.