09/27/24 COMMUNITY NOTICE From SRA Board

COMMUNITY NOTICE

(09/27/2024)


COMMUNITY NOTICE From SRA Board:

Utilities, KCLAD and Stakeholders Meeting Notes

Please see the stakeholders meeting report below.  The biggest news this week is that 4 wells have been operating in the emergency project being done by the City with a 5th ready to start removing water.   They are pumping at a rate of 450 gallons per minute, have not sheared off in the last week and GPS markers in the areas of the wells are showing a 20% greater reduction in velocity of land movement than other areas of the land slide areas.  Per the City, these are very promising early results.  

Residents are encouraged to attend in person or virtually the City Council Meeting next Tuesday 10-1 where reports from City Staff about progress in land movement will be made.  Of note, there is a plan to distribute some of the funds from LA County directly to impacted residents of the land movement areas who have suffered loss of utilities.  The agenda for the meeting is available on the City website.

As previously reported, in response to community requests for added security, the Sheriff’s department and City have reported that the staffed command trailer and a black and white unit will be posted in SeaView as soon as Portuguese Bend Community Association finishes energizing their entry gate.  This is expected to happen by weeks end.


Utilities Meeting

  • Cal Water was not present, but in prior week had indicated that the Admirable Project for above ground piping extensions would be completed this week
  • SoCal Edison had no new updates.  They were in the neighborhood Monday AM to finish removal of meters and the separation of de-energized homes from the grid to prevent back feeding from home generators/solar into the grid system.
  • SoCal Gas had no new updates.  They are looking at longer range plans once land movement stops. They are working with City geologists and their geologists to look at initial steps of how to reconstruct the pipelines once land movement stops. They also have made a $50,000 donation to the Rotary Club.  Funds will be apportioned to residents affected by the landslide.
  • Both SoCal Gas and SoCal Edison indicate that when land movement stops, they will be reconfiguring and reconstructing their systems.  Those are efforts that will take planning and time to execute.  They believe, however, that would be measured in months.
  • SCE made a $50,000 donation to the Rotary Club for distribution to residents of the de-energized areas of SeaView, Portuguese Bend Beach Club, and Rolling Hills. The Rotary Club is working on a distribution plan.

Klondike Canyon Meeting

  • New well has been drilled and the pump going in is expected to pump.  The current 4 wells are pumping at a rate of about 385 gallons per minute (554,400 per day).  A new 5th and 6th well have been drilled and will be completed shortly.  Some crimping is occurring in the well shaft.
  • New Secretary Colleen will be taking over for Sandy Marshall who is retiring.
  • Five tort claims have been filed against the board.  All have been rejected by the board.
  • New generator has been installed to power the wells.
  • KCLAD Canyon drain is to be completed with the fissure filling. To be completed by mid-October with a drain swale to be placed.
  • They will be posting videos on Instagram to be launched by this weekend.
  • Interviewing project managers to run the multiple projects that are underway.
  • RPV City loan hasn’t been used yet.
  • Declaration of State Of Emergency was renewed.
  • Drew Freeman was reappointed to the board.
  • Motion to cancel scheduled election due to lack of candidates.
  • One Commission Position remains open
  • Approved service warrants and expenses for $88,000.

Stakeholders Meeting

  • City Projects
    • 4 deep wells are now operational at the Beach. (Portuguese Bend Landslide area).  Rate of extraction is approx. 450 gallons per minute (648,000 per day).  Pressure monitoring wells are showing a decrease in pore pressure.
    • New survey monitoring points are showing a reduction in the rate of landslide movement greater than in the other monitored areas.  Approximately 10-20% more deceleration than the other areas.  At 12 days, shearing of the wells has not yet started so City is hopeful that the reduction in movement will allow for longer operation of the wells before they shear.
    • The City is hoping for 2 more wells to be in place and operating by the time of next week’s City Council Meeting.
    • The pumps are running at full capacity.
    • Next steps will be presented as options to the City Council at next week’s meeting.
    • The price of each pump is complex as it includes the access roads, the test boreholes, drainage lines and how often and rapidly the wells shear off.
    • Testing of the water is being done, but the City opinion is that the source of water is not likely to be determinable.
  • LA County Sanitation District
    • No significant updates today.  The emergency bypass operations along PVDS.  The agreement with Cal Water as to line placements will allow them to stay on schedule. A large portion of the project is anticipated to be completed in the next 3 weeks. They will be bringing some deep lines near Narcissa to a more superficial level.
  • Sewer lines in SeaView.  Repairs on Admirable started on Monday.  Anticipated to be completed in the next 2 weeks.  Where lines were dug up, LA county workers can survey the lines more easily.  The tradeoff is how to mitigate the risk of water intrusion into those areas.  Preventing water intrusion is a priority for the City.  Details are still pending as to how the winterization will work.  Notices have been sent to individual residents where lateral problems have been identified to have them.
  • Sewer lines in Portuguese Bend.  Recent inspections have been done.  One lateral pinched line was found and is being dealt with.
  • SCE updates
    • SCE has been removing primary and secondary drops to homes.  They are doing this in anticipation of having to redesign the entire system once it can re-energize.
    • They did look at questions raised about running lines from stable poles to individual homes in SeaView.  SCE investigated and found that such a plan would not pass environmental permits and is not practical.
    • They are looking at potential removal of poles from SeaView.  They are negotiating with Frontier as to what happens to the communications equipment.  That will dictate what happens to the poles.
  • Cal Water.
    • Narcissa area. Several sections within PBCA are ready for tie in
    • Admirable water testing has been done.  Ties in will be following and notification will be given as to when water shutoff will happen for that to happen.
    • PVDS lines are being finalized with the County sewer lines. They have yet to be tied in.  A question was raised as to a temporary access road placed at the end of the PV Drive South service road cul-de-sac and if that was going to be filled in.  Augustine will investigate and get back to the SRA on this.
    • Cal Water will still have 24/7 coverage in the neighborhoods of PBCA and SeaView to check on pipes and watch for leakage.
  • SoCal Gas
    • They are now moving to a more regular inspection schedule.  They are backing off the daily inspections and going to once a week.
  • Geologists from SoCal Gas and the City will be meeting and comparing notes on what they are seeing in terms of movement in the land movement area.
  • Frontier
    • Ongoing repairs in the area to maintain services.  Options for connecting with Frontier are available online.  There will be an event at Rolling Hills on Saturday where Frontier will be, and they can answer questions there.
  • Communications
    • No progress with Crown Castle
    • Conversations with AT&T and Cox, no success in getting infrastructure investment to enhance cell coverage.
  • GPS surveys.  In the de-watering wells will be weekly.  In the rest of the area, will be every two weeks.
  • SeaView Graben filling will be starting after the City Council Meeting next week.
  • Army Corps of Engineers will be coming to the area soon.  Ask was made to have them investigate helping ACLAD with some drainage areas.  The City will update on any progress from the meeting.
  • ACLAD.  Gordon Leon had to drop off the meeting.
  • KCLAD
    • Now have diesel fuel tank to run generators.
    • New well is 165 feet deep.  Expected to be operational next week.  Anticipating 200-250 gallons per minute between the two new wells.
    • Monitoring well dropped a little under 3 feet for the water table.
    • Problems with flow meters so difficult to know exactly how much water is being pumped out.
    • Well #4 output has dropped off considerably.  Steve feels it is probably more a flowmeter issue than that the pump isn’t working.
    • Well #5 is pumping at 200 gallons per minute. The water table went down about 20 feet.
    • They have contracted with a company to help in project management around the FEMA funds and the multiple projects that will move forward with those funds.
    • Meeting tomorrow with the Corps of Engineers, FEMA.
  • PBCA.  Keeping gates to the community energized has been a struggle, but still underway, expected to be completed this week.
  • Hydrology study results are being compiled.  They are anticipating the release of information next week.  This is to look at water sources that are contributing to the land movement.