Three Big DWP Announcements for the Reservoirs' Future

The DWP made three major announcements at last week's community meeting at Ivanhoe Elementary School:

1. To reduce the risks of major infrastructure damage from the large volumes of water in the Sierras from this winter's storms, the DWP will be releasing water to multiple locations here in the basin - including the Silver Lake reservoirs.  They expect to begin refilling the reservoir in April and expect it to be full sometime in June. They will also continue their work to connect the lake to the Pollock Wells near Riverside Drive, and will use that groundwater source to address future evaporation losses.

2. The DWP will fund a Master Planning process for the future use of the reservoirs and surrounding property, which should begin later this year.  This will be overseen by the city's Bureau of Engineering, who will be issuing a Request for Proposal for a contractor to undertake the process of soliciting community input.

3. In advance of the Master Planning process, the DWP will fund and undertake two public access improvements to the popular pedestrian paths that circle the reservoirs. They will reopen the "temporary path" adjacent to the Ivanhoe reservoir that the community used during its recent pipeline construction project.  They will also open the top of the South Dam, connecting the existing paths on the east and west sides of the lake. This will mean that path users won't need to walk down by the Dog Park or Recreation Center to circumnavigate the property unless they want to.  And the view is inspiring!  Both of these near term improvements were highly valued in SLRC's comprehensive 2016 Community Survey, and are supported by both Silver Lake Forward and Refill Silver Lake Now.

Many thanks to the DWP for taking responsibility for responding to community concerns and for leading us all through this transition process!  Stay tuned for more information about opportunities to provide input to the Master Planning process.