Water

A geyser of water shot up over 40 feet into the air on Foothill Boulevard east of Pennsylvania Avenue on the night of Sept. 21. Just before 10 p.m. a white 2006 Lexus lost control and drove over a fire hydrant on the south side of Foothill Boulevard. According to Captain Bill Vance, California Highway Patrol, the driver, a 23-year-old Tujunga man, reported that another driver, which caused him to lose control of his vehicle and drive over the fire hydrant, cut him off. The man stated he was driving at approximately 35 miles per hour when the accident occurred.

Recognizing that many people are afflicted with a passion for the nautical lifestyle, and that there is no television programming specifically for them, Gregg Baum and his stepbrother Chip Plested created "Water on the Brain." The television show, which features boat owners exploring the waters, will premiere Sunday at 7:30 a.m. on Channel 3 of Cox Communications cable systems. Two years ago, Baum asked Plested what kind of TV show he would create if he had the opportunity.

Engineers have decided to bring in a crane to remove a Mercedes sedan that got trapped in the Verdugo Wash today after the driver reportedly mistook a concrete water channel for a freeway on-ramp. Officials are preparing to temporarily close San Fernando Road between Doran Street and Kenilworth Avenue as they remove the car. The driver, a 53-year-old Glendale woman, entered the wash about a mile up and reached speeds of up to 70 mph, whizzing by maintenance crews who attempted to flag her down, officials said.  After barreling down several 3-foot long steps, she stopped before reaching a steep drop-off in the channel near San Fernando Road.

Emergency replacement project along Brand Boulevard goes up $250,000, to $1.35 million.CITY HALL -- An emergency water main replacement that delayed the first phase of the Brand Boulevard Improvement Project and cost an additional $1.1 million will now cost the city another quarter-million dollars. Work done on the water main came out to $1.35 million, so the City Council will vote Tuesday on paying the additional $250,000. Work included connections to the new water main, and resolving conflicts with other subterranean utility lines.

Doctor's office employees at 633 N. Central Ave. received a wet welcome Wednesday morning when a water supply line broke, flooding the office. Water seeped from a pinhole leak in a 4-inch galvanized water supply line in the wall for an estimated five hours before the Glendale Fire Department was called, Fire Capt. Thomas Marchant said. The leak flooded only one 1,000-square-foot unit on the first floor of the building with 1/2-inch of water, and Glendale firefighters removed the water in less than an hour without having to shut the office down, Marchant said.

Buck Wargo CITY HALL -- Glendale has agreed to pay $31,855 for damages to a Rustic Lane home damaged by a water main break on Oct. 3. Jim and Ann Kosinski own one of three homes damaged when more than 2 million gallons of water was released during the break. The city made repairs to two other homes that had broken windows and other damage. The Kosinski home had damage to hardwood and carpet floors from water entering the house through open and broken windows.

As with most studies related to our ocean's and our harbor's safety and cleanliness, a report last week covering 2004 contained good and bad news. First the bad news from Testing the Waters, which was compiled by the Natural Resources Defense Council: There were 939 beach advisories or closures last year in Orange County and, closer to home, the water in the harbor at 33rd Street and near the intersection of Newport Boulevard and West Coast Highway was persistently unhealthy.

At a time when the bottom line for all real estate development in Southern California needs to be sparing use of water, many Glendale projects propose to build and landscape extensive and very steep hillsides. Retention on such slopes is minimal, requiring frequent applications of water. When the prospect of rationing is looming and has already been implemented in many of the surrounding municipalities, shouldn?t our City Council and the various boards and commissions have had the foresight to have planned for such an event in Glendale?

What about all the fish-killin', water-guzzlin' trees? This could be bigger than Godzilla! The shadowy villains cast their death rays on sidewalks and slither down drains to choke the living daylights out of the fish in the seas! And they take all our water with them! How long has this been going on? Let's ask Charlie Tuna. Remember Charlie Tuna? He was the expert on everything, except credibility. "Hey Charlie, what's up with fish-killin', water-guzzlin' trees?"

The Crescenta Valley boys' varsity water polo team, which is ranked first in Division VI in the CIF Southern Section coaches' polls, defeated Anaheim Loara, 14-5, at Burbank High on Tuesday in the first round of the CIF playoffs. The Falcons, who improved to 19-9, will next play Anaheim Western, which won the Orange League, tomorrow (Saturday) in second round action. CV's Jin Kim led all scores with five goals. Teammate Mason Hawthorne was next with three goals. Andrew Martinez finished with two goals and adding one each were Joe Park and goalie Sam Blum who also had 15 saves.

The general manager of Glendale Water & Power resigned Wednesday, citing personal reasons. Glenn Steiger - who became general manager of the city-owned utility in 2008 - also stepped down from his post as president of the Southern California Public Power Authority, a joint powers organization that includes Glendale, Burbank and Pasadena. Reached by phone after the announcement, Steiger said he did not immediately have plans for the future. “I enjoyed my time at Glendale, I really did,” he said.

Glendale's water was well within statelimits for contaminants in 2011, but recent tests turned up a pollutant not detected in 2010, according to the city's water quality report released this week. “Everything's pretty consistent with what we've reported in the past,” said Dan Askenaizer, water quality manager for Glendale Water & Power. “Everything's in compliance.” But in 2011, Methyl Tertiary-butyl Ether, a chemical additive once used in gasoline, was found in north Glendale wells.

Amid fears of provoking a strike by an already aggravated union, the City Council on Tuesday declined to increase the pay for some Glendale Water & Power supervisors in exchange for doing work typical of rank-and-file employees. “The last thing I want to see us have is any kind of a war with [Glendale Water & Power] employees,” said Councilwoman Laura Friedman. Last week, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 18 rejected a contract proposal from the city because it would require employees to pay more into their retirement.

About 2,900 Glendale Water & Power customers lost power at 5:25 p.m. Tuesday due to an explosion that damaged a cable in an electrical vault, according to a city spokesman. The affected area was on the west side of the city, stretching roughly three miles from Monterey Road and the Ventura (134) Freeway toward Flower Street. The vault is located on the 1100 block of North Columbus Avenue. Power was returned to 90% of the affected customers within an hour, said City Spokesman Tom Lorenz.

As the sounds of a generator echoed through Glendale's largest reservoir, about 15 residents descended 32 feet underground into the facility's large concrete chamber. “Just thinking that I'm standing where I'll be drinking water from is an amazing experience,” said Hector Lavanchy, whose home neighbors the Diederich Reservoir. Wednesday marked the first time the public could view the south section of the reservoir, which has been undergoing construction improvements for more than a year.

I read Tony Maniscalchi's April 4 op-ed piece, “It's a done deal: Your water rate is going up,” and I agree with every word. But it is very easy to have an opinion after the fact and let us know we have been screwed once again. It would have been incredibly refreshing to have this opinion published before the die was cast. Glendale Water & Power and our City Council has duped us poor uninformed citizens once again and we will just tuck our tail between our legs, complain to our friends and neighbors, and then pay the increased costs.

Nevermind that they misspelled the word 'prostitution' in the headline, but the student paper at Boston University is in hot water after running an April Fool's Day edition that ran the faux story: "Cinderella in political prostituion [sic] ring, stepsisters vie for throne". Taking the riff further, the paper, the Daily Free Press, came out April 1 as the "Disney Free Press. " The story inserted Disney characters into recalled incidents of rape and sexual assault on campus -- an issue the college has apparently been grappling with -- including the arrest of "seven frat dwarves" accused of date rape.

Glendale Water & Power commissioners this week said they were dissatisfied with the number of people reached by an online survey aimed at helping utility officials redesign customer bills. Several commissioners said during their meeting on Monday that the survey didn't represent a wide cross-section of the public, and thus couldn't be relied upon to represent popular opinion. “I feel like your average online user doesn't represent the public,” said Commissioner Armen Adjemian, noting that in addition to the Internet, Glendale Water & Power may also want to try phone surveys.

Here we go again. The city of Glendale makes the case to fill a $180-million need over the next 20 years, and this is only for water service and for capital projects related to it. The city, together with its programmed and cloned consultant, Willdan Financial Services, has scripted a toxic stack of financial drama. The fact is our water utility needs $180 million over 20 years, including $60 million in the next five years. The comedy in the city projection is how many ratepayers will save money with this new increase.

Most of the highlights of Pete Loporchio's distinguished water polo coaching experience have occurred at the high school level. Now the veteran Crescenta Valley High aquatics coach has decided the time is right to resume plying his trade at the college level. Los Angeles Valley College shared that feeling, as Monarchs Athletic Director Diedra Stark said she recently reached out to Loporchio about their women's water polo head coaching vacancy, a position which Loporchio officially accepted on March 23. "I had some connections there, but more or less they kind of had contacted me," said Loporchio, who was previously an assistant and co-head coach for women's water polo at L.A. Valley from 2001-02.