The Brief

Water departments across L.A. County, including the L.A. Department of Water and Power and Pasadena Water and Power, have issued water advisories for residents near the Palisades and Eaton fires.

Because the fires have opened up the potential for contaminants to get in the water system, these notices offer guidelines for how to use the water safely if you’re in an affected area.

There are two types of advisories in effect right now due to the wildfires. Here’s what advisories are active, what they each mean and what you should do if they affect your area.

What areas are under advisory right now?

To check whether your home is under a water advisory, first make sure you know what water department or district you’re in. You can figure that out by checking your water bill to see which agency is listed. If you’re a renter, ask your landlord.

Here are the current notices. Keep in mind these advisories don’t always apply to the entire district. Read the notice to see if your address is in the impacted area:

• L.A. Department of Water and Power (ZIP code 90272 and adjacent areas): Do Not Drink
• Pasadena Water and Power: Do Not Drink. See the map of affected areas here
• Kinneloa Irrigation District: Do Not Drink
• Las Flores Water Company: Do Not Use
• L.A. County Waterworks Districts
  
  • LACWD No. 29, Malibu: Do Not Drink
• Lincoln Avenue Water Company: Do Not Use
• Rubio Cañon Land and Water Association: Do Not Use

Note: L.A. County Waterworks District No. 21 in Kagel Canyon cancelled its Boil Water notice on Jan. 13. Pasadena Water and Power also reduced the areas affected by the Do Not Drink notice on Jan. 13, but some areas remain under the advisory. The most recent map is linked above.

What is a Do Not Drink Notice?

A Do Not Drink Notice means you should not drink your tap water at all — and don't try to treat the water yourself by boiling, filtering or adding anything to it.

Agencies will issue a Do Not Drink notice when “the water supply has an acute contaminant that cannot be rendered safe by boiling the water or by disinfection, or is an unapproved source with no water quality data,” according to LADWP.

Here are the guidelines to follow if you’re under a Do Not Drink Notice:

• Drinking and baby formula: Do not use tap water at all, even if it is boiled. Use bottled water to drink, make baby formula and all your other drinking needs.
• Showering and bathing: Using tap water to bathe is safe, but be careful not to swallow the water or let it come into contact with nicks, cuts or open wounds. Sponge bathing is advised. Limit your time in the bath or shower, and do not take hot baths. Use lukewarm water and ventilate the area. 
• Washing dishes: Use bottled water. If you’re using a dishwasher, use the air-dry setting. 
• Washing clothes: It’s OK to use cold tap water to wash your clothes. If your clothes dryer does not vent outside, avoid using it and dry your laundry indoors.
• Washing vegetables and other food prep: Use bottled water for washing or handling food, and for making ice — don’t use automatic ice makers. 
• Washing hands: It’s safe to wash them with tap water as long as you wash vigorously with soap. If you’re washing your hands to prepare food, use bottled water. 
• Water for pets: Use bottled water.
• Swimming pools and hot tubs: Do not use them.

What is a Do Not Use Notice?

This notice means you shouldn’t use the tap water for any home activities, including showering, hand washing, drinking, food preparation or washing dishes. Local water departments say to use bottled water only for all of your water needs.

What is a Boil Water Notice?

A Boil Water Notice means it’s not safe to drink or use your water without boiling it first. There are not currently any Boil Water Notices in effect — as we noted earlier, a Boil Water Notice for L.A. County Waterworks District No. 21 in Kagel Canyon was cancelled earlier this week.

According to LADWP guidelines, a Boil Water Notice is put out when “the water supply has a microbiological contaminant that can be rendered safe by boiling the water or by using bottled water.” The widespread practice of disinfecting water via boiling dates back to 1858 to fight cholera outbreaks.

The rule of thumb for boiling your water is to bring it to a full rolling boil for at least one minute and then allow the water about 30 minutes to cool, according to the CDC.

LADWP advises that you “make up a batch of boiled water in advance so you will not be tempted to use it hot and risk scalds or burns. Boiled water may be used for drinking, cooking, and washing.”

To store your water after it has cooled, just pour it into a clean and covered container.

Here are the guidelines to follow if you’re under a Boil Water Notice:

• Drinking and baby formula: Use pre-boiled or bottled water. 

• Showering and bathing: According to LADWP, the water in your home may be used for showering, bathing, shaving and washing as long as you take care not to swallow any water and avoid having water come into contact with nicks, open wounds, cuts or blisters. Limiting time in the bath or shower can help minimize contact with the water.

  • People who are immunocompromised or have chronic illnesses should use boiled, then cooled water to bathe — sponge bathing is advisable here. 

• Washing dishes:

  • Hand-wash with pre-boiled water. Otherwise, you can rinse your dishes for a minute in a diluted bleach solution (1 tablespoon of unscented bleach per gallon of water) after washing them with dish detergent. 
  • It’s fine to use the water for home dishwashers under the condition that the hot wash is at least 170° F and includes a full dry cycle. If you aren’t sure about the temperature of your specific dishwasher, that diluted bleach mixture rinse we mentioned above is your best friend.
  • You can use a commercial dishwasher if it is a National Sanitation Foundation listed washer.
• Washing clothes: It’s fine to use a washing machine for laundry, as long as the clothes are fully dried before being worn.
• Washing vegetables and other food prep: Wash them with boiled, then cooled, water.
• Brushing teeth: Use pre-boiled or bottled water. 
• Washing hands: It’s okay to use tap water, but use soap and scrub well. If you plan to handle food, use bottled or pre-boiled water.
• Water for pets: Pets can drink pre-boiled or bottled water. For more specific information, contact your vet.

What if I accidentally drank the tap water?

Under any of these advisories, LADWP says the likelihood of becoming sick is low, but still possible, especially for those who are immunocompromised or have a chronic illness. Seek out medical attention if you have any symptoms of gastroenteritis, including diarrhea, nausea, vomiting or abdominal cramps, with or without fever.

Is my home water filter enough to make my water safe to drink? 

No — and that applies to all three advisories. The average home filter is not designed to filter out the types of bacteria that are produced by a wildfire, according to Newsha Ajami, a hydrologist and leading expert in sustainable water resource management. Home filters are built for metals and toxins that are more commonly found in tap water on a day to day basis, Ajami said.

How does water contamination happen from a wildfire?

Ajami says there are a few different ways that the water supply can get contaminated from a wildfire.

One is cracks in the pipes. When water pressure goes down in the pipes due to the high usage from firefighting, the water that has leaked out into the ground is sucked back through the cracks along with all kinds of toxins and pollutants.

A firefighting helicopter drops water on the Palisades Fire.

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Justin Sullivan

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Another risk is debris making its way into groundwater.

Overheated pipes can also lead to contamination of the water supply. The fires can melt them and affect the efficiency of entire water systems, Ajami said.

How long will these notices be in effect? 

Expect notices to be updated every two days. According to an FAQ from LADWP, the agency will inform residents when tests show that water is safe to drink. That testing takes a minimum of 48 hours to complete according to public safety protocols.

For the Do Not Drink Notice, LADWP says that the changing conditions of this particular event, along with the time it will take to flush the system and making sure the water adheres to their standards makes it difficult to give an estimate.

Pasadena Water and Power began testing its water on Jan. 12. You can look for the latest updates on the department’s website.

Where can I get bottled water?

Potable water is available at:

• 450 N. Lake Avenue, Pasadena, 91101 (Wednesday, Jan. 15 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.) 
• 23533 West Civic Center Way, Malibu, 90265 (every day until further notice, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.)
• Adjacent to the Brentwood Country Club, 741 S. Gretna Green Way, Los Angeles, 90049 (Monday to Wednesday, Jan. 13 – 15, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.)
• Westwood Recreation Center, 1350 S Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, 90025 (every day until further notice, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.)

Who do I contact with questions about the safety of my water?

Here are phone numbers to call for local water departments:

• Pasadena Water and Power
  
  • Customer service: (626) 744-4005
  • Water emergencies: (626) 744-4138 
• LADWP: (800) DIAL DWP or (800) 342-5397
• Kinneloa Irrigation District: General Manager Tom Majich, (626) 797-6295
• L.A. County Waterworks District: (800) 675-4357 
• Rubio Cañon Land and Water Association: Assistant General Manager Armando De La Paz, (626) 797-0509
• Lincoln Avenue Water Company: (626) 798-9101
• State Water Resources Control Board District Office: (818) 551-2004

LAist reporters Erin Stone and Cato Hernández contributed to this story.

Nearly 300,000 California K-12 students experienced homelessness in the 2024-25 school year, the highest numbers ever recorded by UCLA researchers and a 10% increase from the prior peak in the 2018-19 school year.

“The sheer magnitude of how many students are experiencing homelessness and how much it's increased, that was the biggest finding for us,” said Grace Kim, study co-author and research analyst at the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools.

Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties account for half of the students experiencing homelessness in the state. About 62,000 — nearly 5% — of L.A. County students experience homelessness in the 2024-25 school year.

Researchers at UCLA’s Center for the Transformation of Schools examined data collected by the California Department of Education between the 2017-18 and 2024-25 school years, including homeless student enrollment, attendance and test scores.

Schools are required to identify students who lack stable housing and provide resources, such as transportation, so they can access the same quality of education as a housed child.

Students experiencing homelessness are more likely to frequently miss school and fall behind academically. While many students have started to score higher on the state’s standardized math and reading tests following pandemic-related declines, the percentage of students experiencing homelessness who meet the benchmarks is about 20% lower than their housed peers, the research found.

Black, American Indian and Alaska Native students experienced higher rates of homelessness than their peers of other races — about 1 in 12.

California’s most recent budget includes $116 million to help schools identify and support students experiencing homelessness. The report’s authors say while “encouraging,” more than one-time funding is needed to support students experiencing homelessness.

“Having integrated systems of support is also a super important factor,” Kim said. “The reason why we see these gaps in terms of academic achievement or chronic absenteeism … it's not [students’] fault.”

Cleanup is just beginning for a contaminated industrial site in South Gate, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials who are leading the effort.

The small southeast L.A. city was built on industry — in the early 20th century it boomed with auto, chemical and other manufacturers.

That legacy also left it with three Superfund sites, areas designated by the federal government as highly contaminated with hazardous waste.

The three sites are all clustered on a large lot framed by Southern and Rayo avenues. A residential neighborhood is nearby.

“This site is less than 50 yards away from a home, so we want to make sure that we clean it to a point where we can feel confident,” said South Gate Mayor Joshua Barron.

South Gate is home to about 90,000 people, the majority of whom are Latino. The median household income is about $74,500 and the state has identified the city and surrounding communities to be disproportionately burdened by pollution and its health effects.

This site, dubbed the Southern Avenue Industrial Area, housed a screw manufacturing business for 30 years, then a carpet adhesive plant. Both businesses are now defunct and the site was designated by the federal government as a Superfund site in 2012.

The pollution at this property was compounded by pollution from companies next door.

One of the two adjacent Superfund sites was used by Cooper Drum Co., a steel drum recycling plant. A group of Cooper Drum’s former customers, including chemical manufacturers and oil companies, are paying for part of that cleanup. The other site, previously operated by an aircraft rivet and conveyor belt manufacturer, is still in the analysis and planning stages.

At the Southern Avenue site where the EPA broke ground Tuesday, analyses commissioned by the agency found widespread lead and other toxic contamination in the soil, as well as a plume of trichloroethylene, a carcinogen, in the groundwater.

Officials say the plume has not affected the deeper aquifer South Gate and other southeast L.A. cities rely on for drinking water.

In 1986, the city closed water wells contaminated by the neighboring Cooper Drum site.

EPA project manager Kelia Liang explains the cleanup effort in South Gate on Tuesday.

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Erin Stone

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“ The water is safe to drink,” said Mike Montgomery, superfund director for the EPA. “What we're trying to do is prevent it from becoming impacted.”

EPA officials estimate soil cleanup will take about two months. Groundwater cleanup planning will start in 2027 and could take a year or more. The whole effort is estimated to cost between $45 million and $60 million, primarily through federal dollars.

The summer heat may be sweltering at the moment in Southern California, but predictions about this winter’s El Niño show it could be the strongest on record.

So the LAist newsroom wants to know: What questions do you have? (You can submit below.)

We can tell you now that El Niño is a climate pattern that happens roughly every two to seven years, and is one of the most powerful drivers of the Earth’s weather.

During an El Niño event, the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America warms to above normal temperatures. The warm ocean adds moisture and heat to the atmosphere, influencing atmospheric circulation, temperatures and precipitation on a massive scale.

El Niño typically results in mild weather in the northern United States and wetter conditions in the southern part of the country.

In Southern California, we could start to see the effects of El Niño in the late fall or early winter. Generally, those effects include significant rain and high sea levels and the consequences that come with them, such as flooding, mudslides and coastal erosion.

Forecasters say there is a more than 90% chance of a powerful El Niño event this year, and a 70% chance that it’s record-setting.

That said, uncertainty remains around how exactly this winter’s El Niño will play out here.

So as you gear up for an El Niño winter, ask us your questions and we’ll do our best to get answers in the months ahead.

The company behind the Garden Grove hazardous waste scare earlier this year is planning to resume full operations in late September, subject to an independently monitored, court-approved safety plan.

GKN Aerospace employs 500 people at its Garden Grove facility.

What happened?

GKN Aerospace said in a news release that it had permanently decommissioned the tank that set off the hazmat scare in May and forced some 50,000 nearby residents to evacuate.

Removal of the tank is pending review and approval from state regulatory agencies, according to an emailed response from Salma Elshakre, a spokesperson for the Orange County Health Care Agency, which is overseeing the cleanup.

All of the toxic chemical, methyl methacrylate (also known as MMA), has been removed from nearby tanks as well, Elshakre said.

What about the compensation fund?

This week, the company also announced a forthcoming $100 million compensation fund for affected residents and businesses. GKN expects to release details on how to apply in the coming months.

What's next?

At least 39 lawsuits have been filed against the company in conjunction with the hazmat incident, according to a GKN webpage set up to track the fallout. The company pledged to explain the legal effect of participating in the compensation fund before it is launched.

What's the community reaction?

Garden Grove Mayor Stephanie Klopfenstein said in a statement that the city “welcome[s] this progress and will continue to expect GKN to address the broader effects on our community.”

A coalition of community groups called GKN Out of Garden Grove Coalition wants the city to shut down the GKN plant completely. The coalition plans to release a report documenting the company’s alleged history of hazardous waste failures at a news conference Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at 11300 Stanford Ave. in Garden Grove.