Grandview, Mountain Trail Closed Due to Water Leak, Hole in Street

UPDATE Posted 11/18/12 – This just in from Elaine Aguilar in response to our question about how many residents are without water and how long they will be without it: “All the homes on both sides of the street on Mt. Trail between Grandview and Alegria.  We are still aiming to get the water back on tonight, but it is still too early to tell.”

UPDATE – Posted 11/18/12 – We’ve received word from City Manager Elaine Aguilar that “Our crews can handle the repair. No need to call in a contractor.”  Sounds to me like with a little more time and further assessment of the situation, they’ve decided to just repair the pipe and fix the hole, not do the full Sierra Madre Blvd. to Miramonte repair of the pipes under Mountain Trail.  Also, our original post described the hole as a sinkhole.  Thanks to reader Lisa Harris, who pointed out that we erroneously called it a sinkhole. We heard that word used to describe it, and went with it. However, when Lisa questioned it, we looked it up, and wikipedia describes a sinkhole as a “natural depression or hole in the Earth’s surface caused by karst processes — for example, the chemical dissolution of carbonate rocks or suffosion processe in sandstone.” This was not that. It’s just a hole. Thanks, Lisa!  We are trying to find out how many residents are currently without water, and when they will get it back…

Posted 11/18/12 – A water leak at the intersection of Mountain Trail and Grandview has caused the street to buckle and a large hole created by the leak has closed both streets to traffic in both directions.  The leak is located about ten feet north of where a repair had been made on a leak about a month ago.  According to Chris Cimino, Assistant Director of Public Works, a repair for Mountain Trail from Sierra Madre Blvd. to Miramonte has already been designed, but was waiting on approval of funding.  Asked if an emergency meeting of City Council would be called to approve funding for the repair, City Manager Elaine Aguilar told us that she didn’t know yet, the situation is still being assessed.  According to a resident that lives at the intersection, there have been three repairs at the intersection in the last ten years.