Silver Lake has two daddies.

It’s been 54 days and counting that Silver Lake has been empty. I don’t think I can ever forgive the dwp for this flagrant misuse of power, capriciously deciding who gets water and who doesn’t. If you found yourself getting hot and thirsty this last weekend, think about the birds and animals in that area, without water for all that time…But I notice the bugs are breeding happily!

Gravestones in Silver Lake. More info below.

Even though I haven’t written here in a while, I’ve been doing a lot behind the scenes. Silver Lake is apparently like the Red Sea as far as City Hall goes…because it’s divided right down the middle, by the two councilmen, Tom LaBonge and Eric Garcetti! Which one is yours? Do you get the bird ball plastic water or the possibly poison water?! I’ll soon reveal all, as fast as I can write! I’ve talked with Councilman Tom LaBonge’s office and C. Eric Garcetti’s, the State Water Board, the Gov, State Senator and Rep, the LAFD, and more. Don’t get me started…

Here are a few more Q & A with the PR flack at dwp, with my comments at the bottom:

1. Why is DWP delaying filling the lakes? How does this benefit the community? We are not delaying anything. We are following through with our plan to evaluate the reservoir, determine the appropriate type of maintenance, perform the maintenance, develop plans for operating and treating the reservoir, refill the reservoir, and place the reservoir back into service. There are a host of operational and maintenance considerations that go into these activities and we want to do a thorough job. DWP personnel want to get the reservoir back into service as quickly as possible as it simplifies our operations. We are hoping to have it back in service prior to the original June 1^st deadline. The benefit to the community for waiting patiently is that the 500,000 customers who enjoy water from the Silverlake Complex will continue to receive high quality water and will experience a seamless transition back to using Silverlake Reservoir, improving the quantity and quality of water available to supply the local community.

2. How much money has this cost/will cost for the city? Up to this point we have spent a little over $200,000 to drain the reservoir, evaluate it, and perform maintenance on it. We are currently estimating spending roughly $400,000 on Silverlake Reservoir by the time everything is completed.

3. What are you doing in the northwest corner with the rocks? Not too sure what you are referring to. Are you referring to rocks used for landscaping? Please provide more detail.

4. What adjustments did you make for the animals, birds, and trees that still depend on water there? We ran the irrigation system for an extended period of time to provide the plants and trees with a good, deep soaking. The normal irrigation system was shut down. A temporary irrigation system was then set up, as mentioned earlier, that takes the water from the middle of Silverlake Reservoir and pumps it to the temporary sprinkler system for irrigation purposes.

5. How many chemical, environmental, scientific, and wildlife consultants do you have for this project? We did not use consultants on this project other than a biologist (wildlife consultant). We utilized our in-house chemical, environmental, and scientific personnel for the project.

6. Does H. David Nahai make decisions like this on his own, as your own PR statement said? What decision is being referred to?

1. As she wrote to answer an earlier question, the floors were quite clean and there was NO cleaning necessary except for:

Crews worked on cleaning up the floor of the reservoir from March 24 through March28, removing foreign objects from the reservoir.

The lakes were drained March 7. They dilly-dallied a bit, rested a little, took care of some personal problems, and decided to come back to work on Silver Lake. As it happens, I’ve learned exactly what they found in the lake bottoms: 2 guns, many golf balls, and 2 anchors that fell off their own boats. (!?) This took them 4 days to pick up. (Hey, golf balls are tricky sons of guns, you know!) Blah blah blah means: “We haven’t refilled it because we didn’t feel like it.”

2. Oh, Carol. They’ve spent $2 million on the bird balls alone, and that’s just so far. Your credibility has been shot to hell with this answer, but we’ll let your replies continue on, because you amuse us.

3. Note the photo above of boulders. Well, I GUESS we could call that landscaping… at least in dwp land.

I first saw this about a week after the draining, late at night when I began to run. I was so excited and entranced as I peered at them through the gate. I thought they were a fantastic example of : gravestones with dead flower bouquets laid next to them, representing the death of the lake! I thought, “Oh my Gah, at last, someone to help me fight dwp and point out how poorly they have handled the draining and subsequent NO action.” But I guess I was the only activist artist around! Because when I saw it in the daytime I realized that it wasn’t gravestones at all…although the lake was still dead anyway.

4. Carol, you know there is something in logic called SIN OF OMISSION. You, dear lady, are a sinner. dwp let all the birds and animals die. It’s a Terri Schiavo situation in Silver Lake.

5. Silver Lake water was supposedly poisoned, and you….decided to have a round table discussion.

6. Honestly, isn’t this cute? Well done, Carol!

A bonus for you following at home: This contact info below isn’t available online, on their website, in any bills, through the city or through 311 or through the operator. So use, and enjoy.

How to reach the dwp commisioners:

commission@dwp.com

DWP Commission
111 N. Hope St., Room 1555
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Ph: (213) 367-1356
Fx: (213) 367-1423