LA Water Commissioner Cuts Check for Pipeline Repairs
LOS ANGELES (AP) – A city water commissioner was so concerned about a broken pipeline at a California Indian reservation that she decided to pay for repairs with her own money.
Department of Water and Power Commissioner Christina Noonan cut a check on Tuesday after members of the Big Pine Paiute tribe drove hundreds of miles from the Owens Valley to appeal to the board.
Noonan was “moved by the heartfelt stories and concerns for the welfare of the tribal members,” a DWP statement said.
The amount of Noonan’s check wasn’t disclosed but repair costs have been estimated at around $250,000.
After Noonan’s gesture, DWP’s general manager ordered immediate repairs to the leaky pipe without using her money – even though jurisdictional issues remain to be settled.
The tribe and the DWP have been feuding for several years over who should pay for repairing the nearly 80-year-old pipeline. It delivers about 1,000 acre-feet of water per year to irrigate trees and gardens on the Big Pine reservation, which nestles between the towering peaks of the eastern Sierra Nevada and Death Valley National Park.
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