Dispute Snags Water Line Safety Project

Water district officials say a property dispute is stalling improvements that would prevent explosive water main ruptures such as the one that gouged a 30-foot hole out of Madera Road in 1997.

The Calleguas Municipal Water District had reached a deal to buy land on which to place a tank that would protect water mains from water-pressure surges. But the landowner backed out and asked for more money, forcing the district to consider lengthy condemnation proceedings to acquire the land, officials say.

“We’re really not in a position to wait,” Calleguas General Manager Donald Kendall said. “We need this to make our system safe and that’s not something I’m willing to bargain for.”

Calleguas officials hope to take control of the parcel, measuring 87 feet by 50 feet, near Madera Road and Strathearn Place to locate the tank.

Kendall said the tank, which is about 7 feet high and 20 feet wide, would help dissipate pressure waves that shoot through water mains when power outages shut down pumps. Tanks dissipate those pressure waves by giving the excess water somewhere to go.

Pressure waves, which move at hundreds of feet per second, can cause major damage to the district’s 130 miles of pipe and anything above a ruptured water main.

In March 1997, a power outage caused a pressure wave to punch through 4-inch walls of a water main near Madera Road and Royal Avenue.

The rupture spilled more than 8 million gallons of water, temporarily turning one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares into a free-flowing river while launching 2- to 3-foot chunks of asphalt into the air.

More than 50 residents in the surrounding area were evacuated and hundreds of others, including some in Moorpark, were left without service until the water could be rerouted.

The rupture also left a 30-foot by 12-foot hole in Madera Road’s southbound lane. The damage took road crews several weeks to repair.

A surge tank could have prevented the damage, Kendall said.

“We have studies that show our system is vulnerable to pressure waves. So this, in my opinion, is really a matter of safety,” Kendall said.

“It’s something that we, our customers and the residents of Simi Valley need to keep the kind of rupture we had on Madera Road from happening again.”

According to Calleguas’ attorney Glen Reiser, the district began negotiating with Corrine Shukartsie of Calabasas last year and reached a tentative deal to purchase the land for about $44,000.

District officials, however, said Shukartsie backed out of the deal and sought additional compensation for impacts the sale would have on the rest of her property, which includes most of a K-mart shopping center site.

Shukartsie could not be reached for comment on the dispute.

Reiser said this demand has forced the district to consider beginning eminent domain proceedings, which allow government agencies to take property for a public purpose after paying the owner a court-determined price. Proceedings will begin at the end of the month if a settlement is not reached, officials said.

“The district has been very conciliatory to the landowner, but it’s just been delayed and delayed,” Reiser said. “This project has to be built because there is such a safety concern.”