GLENDALE : Reservoir Lowered to Repair Cracked Pipe

About 500,000 gallons of water was drained out of a Glendale reservoir Friday after officials discovered a hairline crack in an almost 50-year-old pipeline.

Up to 1,000 gallons per minute were released onto residential streets in the hillside neighborhood of Glenoaks Canyon from the 9 million-gallon tank on Gardner Place near Edwards Place.

Officials had expected by late Friday to lower the water level in the tank enough to replace a 20-inch cast iron T joint, said Donald R. Froelich, water services administrator.

Several homeowners along the path of the fast-flowing water, from Hollister Terrace to Scholl Drive, sandbagged their driveways to divert the water away from landscaping, while others used hoses to siphon water onto their gardens. Children in the neighborhood shed their shoes to play in the stream.

Froelich said the leak was first discovered about two weeks ago when workers found a small amount of water seeping out of a hillside below the tank. A portion of the hillside was excavated to uncover the faulty pipeline. Workers began draining the tank on Thursday and placed warning barricades along the streets to alert motorists to the unexpected water flow. Froelich said water was supplied to the area from other reservoirs and no outages or decreases in water pressure were reported.