Silver Lake Reservoir to be drained this summer

SILVER LAKE, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Silver Lake Reservoir will be drained this summer to comply with federal and state standards on storing drinking water.

In its current state, the open reservoir exposes drinking water to contamination from the environment. The drainage will make way for construction of a new pipeline underneath the reservoir that would bypass the Silver Lake Reservoir and transfer incoming drinking water to a reservoir in Griffith Park.

To avoid wasting water, the reservoir's existing 400 million gallons of water will be put through a filtration system to bring it up to drinking water standards and pushed through the system, said Marty Adams with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

But not all of the water will fit in the new reservoir.

"The part we can't drink, we're going to send to a water reclamation plant, so it can have a second life as recycled water," Adams said.

The construction along the section of Silver Lake Boulevard will make it harder to walk, jog or drive in the area for the next five months.

When the work is completed, the Silver Lake Reservoir will be refilled with storm water or recycled water.

The reservoir will remain empty for at least a year.