The Associated Press
YORBA LINDA, Calif. — A long-planned reservoir that would have served a neighborhood where at least three homes were destroyed in last November’s wildfires due to lack of water pressure has languished for decades, according to a report published Monday.
Water officials warned nearly 30 years ago that new homes should not be built in the area until the project was at least under construction, the Los Angeles Times said.
A review of records from the Yorba Linda Water District and the city by the newspaper showed progress on the Hidden Hills Reservoir has stopped for years at a time since its inception, and it still has not been built, even though $9 million sits in an account for construction and thousands of homeowners have paid taxes toward it.
Officials with the water district denied the reservoir was a low priority.
“Any suggestion that the Hidden Hills reservoir project is not a high priority is inaccurate and unfair,” Alan Maltun, a spokesman for the water district, told The Associated Press on Monday.
He said planning for the reservoir was far along at the time of the wildfire, with construction expected to begin as early as April and end next year.
The Times said water district officials wrote to the city in 1981, warning against building more homes in the area before work on the reservoir was under way.
Orange County firefighters estimated that at least three of the 19 homes damaged or destroyed in Hidden Hills Estates could have been saved if hydrants given them what they needed.
The Times said Hidden Hills Estates is the only neighborhood in this suburb southeast of Los Angeles not served by a reservoir.
Maltun, however, said water is pumped uphill to the area from the Santiago Reservoir, less than one-half mile away.
“My home did not have to burn,” said Gillian Johnson, a homeowner in Hidden Hills who filed a $1.8-million claim against the city, saying she was told by a firefighter that the hydrant in front of her house had been dry during the fire. “You can’t fight fire without water.”
Maltun said the water system functioned well overall considering the magnitude of the firestorm.
“Water service may have been interrupted for a period of time in a very limited area, but this is not uncommon in cases where wildfires burning through residential areas create an overwhelming demand on resources,” he said.
The Times said the reservoir become a priority only after the destructive November wildfire. Records show that as recently as 2007, it was ranked 20th out of 29 projects on the district’s priority list, the newspaper said.
First on the list was an administration building in Placentia.
Water district officials have blamed delays on uncertainty over how much the development would grow, with worries of wasteful spending if a large reservoir were built for too few people.
Former water board director Brett Barbre said the importance of the reservoir had been overblown as officials look for someone to blame.
“All the homes in Hidden Hills were approved by the City Council. The fire authority signed off on the fire protection portion of the water system,” Barbre said. “If they were at all uncomfortable with water service, they could have stopped the development at any time.”