Broken Water Main Creates Havoc on Santa Monica and La Cienega Blvds

A broken water main at the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and La Cienega Boulevard created traffic jams throughout the day. It occurred between 12pm and 1pm on Tuesday. Water gushed out of different cracks on the street. Los Angeles Sheriff’s Station released a statement warning commuters to avoid the area and take an alternate route. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) and Southern California Gas were on the scene. West Hollywood Parking enforcement directed traffic.

Water break is still pretty bad at Santa Monica and La Cienega Boulevards, as you can see, but they just opened the eastbound side of Santa Monica Blvd as if 4:30pm. Drivers should still avoid the area. pic.twitter.com/KKKIbw90Qp

— WEHO TIMES (@WEHO_TIMES) June 14, 2023

The water eventually caused a sinkhole at the median, which made some local businesses nervous. “Sorry. Closed” posted Tail O’ the Pup located nearby. “A sinkhole has begun to form at the intersection of La Cienega and Santa Monica, for the safety of our staff and guests we will be closed today and until further notice. Thank you for your patience and stay safe.”

The eastbound lane on Santa Monica Blvd opened to moving traffic at roughly 4:30pm. It is not yet clear when the westbound lane will open as of the posting of this piece.

According to LADWP:

“The increase in water main breaks that has caught the media’s attention over the past day are part of a normal seasonal uptick in main breaks that LADWP experiences in its water distribution system due to extremely cold water temperatures in the pipes.”

It’s been colder than normal these past months. January is when extremely cold water starts to enter our water distribution system.

The change in temperature in the water passing through the pipes causes the pipes to contract and in some cases cause pipe breaks. These breaks are in some cases more dramatic than pipe leaks we experience other times of the year.

On average, LADWP experiences about 3 to 4 water main breaks per day in its 7,340 mile water distribution system in the City of LA. Despite this, the rate of main breaks we experience in LA of 16.8 leaks per 100 miles is far better than the national average of 25 leaks per 100 miles.

LADWP has a water infrastructure replacement plan and actively replaces water mains throughout the year to ensure continued water reliability. In Fiscal Year 21/22, we replaced 195,000 feet of mainline, exceeding our goal. In the current fiscal year, we are on track to replace another 210,000 feet of mainline pipes.”