Overview
- A 36-inch riveted steel trunk line installed about 110 years ago ruptured and dumped roughly 17 million gallons of water, creating a large sinkhole and flooding streets, businesses and underground garages on July 16.
- LADWP crews cut out the damaged segment, welded in a replacement, discovered and patched a pinhole leak while backfilling, then began slow repressurization, disinfection and water-quality testing before reopening the road.
- Sunset Boulevard was reopened overnight Friday with temporary repaving; crews will return in the coming weeks to perform permanent repaving and repairs to a nearby bus pad and sidewalk.
- The break has underscored limits in Los Angeles’ water network, where hundreds of miles of trunk and distribution lines date to the early 20th century and require costly, multi-year projects to replace.
- DWP has an $8 billion, five-year capital plan and is accelerating trunk-line work, but officials say budget, permitting, workforce and community impacts will make full renewal slow while smaller breaks continue to strain response teams.