City Receives Funds to Repair Reservoir

Federal funds will be used to make repairs to Park Manor Reservoir and surrounding areas, scorched during a recent fire.

Under the Emergency Watershed Protection program, the city’s Water and Power Department will receive $13,000 to clear debris basins around the reservoir, repair the reservoir’s roof and replace a chain-link security fence damaged in a blaze that began Dec. 21 in La Canada Flintridge and quickly spread west to Glendale.

In addition, concrete barriers will be installed to keep runoff from entering the reservoir, located just east of the Glendale Freeway at Fern Lane, which contains 3.5-million gallons of drinking water.

Glendale will provide about $2,000 toward the project, in addition to design work that was performed by city engineers, said Don Froelich, water services administrator.

“What we’re concerned about now is that the slopes have no vegetation. If we have a heavy rain, the mud could go into the reservoir,” Froelich said. “If runoff gets inside, we have to shut down the reservoir and drain it.”

A proposal will be taken to the City Council next Tuesday and if approved, work could start immediately and will take less than a week, he said.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the disaster program, also awarded $60,000 to the city of Arcadia, which lost vegetation in a Dec. 27 hillside blaze.