The LA Times writes about a pattern of negligence and incompetence in a new report. County officials had asked for three dozen critical upgrades and expansions of water infrastructure more than a decade earlier, at a projected cost of less than $57 million. Successive city and state administrations did nothing on any of the projects to move them from planning to production.
We may see a lawyer shortage in Los Angeles…
Los Angeles County officials missed dozens of opportunities for water infrastructure improvements that experts say probably would have enabled firefighters to save more homes during the Palisades fire, public records show…
But thousands of pages of state, county and municipal records reviewed by The Times show the disaster was years in the making. Red tape, budget shortfalls and government inaction repeatedly stymied plans for water system improvements in parts of the county like Malibu and Topanga outside the city of L.A. — including some that specifically cited the need to boost firefighting capacity.
The American Society of Civil Engineers has been warning about America’s crumbling infrastructure since I graduated from college in the 1970’s.
Water supply and sewer systems are especially vulnerable to neglect since most of it is underground – “out of sight, out of mind”. No one pays any attention to it until there’s a “failure” – and note, it’s not a “failure” if it was never designed to do that in the first place.
You want a water supply distribution system robust enough to fight a 100 mph wildfire? Open your pockets, it’s going to mean much higher taxes.
I suspect you are right, although reshuffling spending patterns may lessen that part of the pain. It’s expensive living in the Garden of Eden. As we saw in an earlier thread, controlled burns are much more expensive in California than in the southeast. However, not a valid excuse assuming people want to live there.
100mph gusts weren’t included in the recommendations made back in 2013 and 2019.
Many projects on a list of about three dozen “highest priority” upgrades compiled by county officials in 2013 have yet to break ground in communities devastated by the fires…
The lack of progress on many of the plans has been driven in part by residents’ opposition to potential increases to their water rates, already among the highest in the county. Ensuring compliance with environmental regulations can also take years, according to Pestrella, the county’s public works chief.
Anti-development sentiment has been an especially limiting factor in Malibu, where Pestrella said the city has at times used insufficient water access as an excuse to restrict new construction.
DB2 California is a garden of Eden,
A paradise to live in or see; But believe it or not, you won’t find it so hot If you ain’t got the do re mi.