How does Kagel Canyon get its water?

Our water system is complicated and has a long history, but here are some brief explanations which will hopefully answer some of these questions/concerns.

Background: If you live below the Fire Station (i.e., East Trail, West Trail, and Lower/Middle Kagel up to Fire Station 74), then you belong to Water District 21, which was formed in the 1930s to address the need of residents at that time to have a planned water system. WD21 serves 247 active water meters in the canyon (approx. 650 residents). All properties outside the Water District (i.e., the Ranch District and Upper Kagel Canyon) supply their own water either by a private well or by delivery. The following questions/answers are about WD21.

We buy water from the City of Glendale and pay the City of LA to deliver the water to our pumping station which is located next to the bulletin board at the entrance to the canyon. From there, water is then pumped to our two water storage tanks: East Tank (located up the fire road past the end of East Trail) holds approx. 300,000 gallons, and West Tank (located up the fire road past the end of Moonhill Road) holds approx. 150,000 gallons. From those tanks, water is then delivered to the 247 properties via a gravity-fed system of pipes.

It is important to note that our water company is LA County Waterworks, not LA Department of Water and Power (LADWP) which is a City agency. LA County Waterworks is department within LA County Department of Public Works (LADPW – yes, it is confusing that this is similar to the City acronym). LA County Waterworks provides water to certain areas in LA County, including Kagel Canyon (the oldest of the Waterworks systems), as well as Malibu, Topanga, Val Verde, Acton, and the Antelope Valley.

Why did our water stop working on January 10, 2025? Once our water arrives at the pumping station next to the bulletin board, power/electricity is required to pump the water uphill to fill East Tank and West Tank. When Edison shut off our power overnight Tues-Wed, this triggered a battery backup to kick in to start pumping the water. The battery backup only lasts so long (I do not know how long). If our power is going to be off for an extended period of time, LADPW needs to bring in a large generator in order to keep water pumping into the canyon. (The generator is the large box on a trailer which has been sitting next to the bulletin board this past week.) When Edison shut off our power, LADPW did not bring the generator. Eventually, the battery backup ran out, but we did not immediately realize it. During that period, we were continuing to use water and the tanks were draining – but because there was no power to run the pumps, the tanks were not being refilled. At a certain point, West Tank ran dry, and there was no water being pumped in to refill it. We noticed this on Friday morning when we turned on our taps and some residents experienced very low water pressure, and some had no water at all. I believe at this time Bill, Marlene, and Kit called our KCCA contacts at Waterworks and informed them of the situation and got them to bring the generator out ASAP. When LADPW brought in the generator late Friday afternoon, the generator powered the pump, and water was again able to be piped uphill into the canyon storage tanks.

Why were we asked to conserve water once the generator was brought in and the water was working again? We had to conserve water because 247 properties using water uses water faster than the pipes running uphill can refill the tanks. Imagine that you are filling a swimming pool with a garden hose, and all your neighbors are pulling out buckets full of water from the swimming pool as you are trying to fill it. On Friday afternoon/evening, I ran into the Waterworks employee who was inspecting West Tank. He estimated it would take 24 hours to refill the tank (with no consumption of water by residents during the refill time period). During that time, we were asked to conserve water because we were still under a Red Flag Warning, and we needed to be sure that whatever amount of water was in the tanks was available for/dedicated to use by firefighters in the event of a fire.

In the event we are evacuated, should I just turn on my sprinkler system and leave? NO. Please do NOT do this. If you do this, you could be needlessly jeopardizing everyone’s homes. Keep in mind that our tanks hold a limited/fixed amount of water. Firefighters use high-pressured hoses to fight fires, and they need water to be available at the location of a house or brush fire in order to put out that specific fire. If you are standing on your property and using your own garden hose to put out an active spot fire, that is one thing. But to run water as a pre-emptive measure when there is no active fire at your location is a completely different story. In that case, you are running water and depleting the tanks over an unknown duration of time, which means that the tanks could run dry and the firefighters will not have the water necessary to fight the fires when and where they are actually occurring. From memory, when we were issued an evacuation notice during the Creek Fire, residents who evacuated were not permitted to return for about 4 days. We were experiencing house fires, spot fires and flare ups for more than 3 days following the initial ignition on Gold Creek. If you do some rough math on sprinkler systems, you can calculate that if a handful of residents turn on sprinkler systems and then evacuate, that water usage will deplete the tanks faster than they can be replenished and will leave firefighters (and residents who stay behind) without the water resources they need to actually fight the fires for the duration of a wildland fire event. 

To learn more, go to our “Community Meeting Notes” page, and scroll down to February 5.