Water Main Break in Glassell Park

Glassell Park (myFOXla.com) - A water main broke on a hillside in Glassell Park, threatening or flooding three downslope homes today.

The break near Scandia Way and Division Street was reported about 4:10 a.m., but no one with the fire department was available for comment on the immediate response.

A home at 3720 N. Avenue 42 may have been damaged, but no one with the Department of Water and Power or Department of Building and Safety -- representatives of both were summoned to the scene -- were available early today.

The break is just the latest in rash of nearly 40 that have occurred since Sept. 1. The biggest was 62-inch trunk line that broke under Coldwater Canyon Avenue just south of Ventura Boulevard on Sept. 5 and sent a torrent of water into homes and shops.

DWP General Manager David Nahai resigned Friday to become a senior adviser to the Clinton Climate Initiative and will be temporarily replaced by former DWP chief David Freeman.

Nahai became the DWP's top executive in December 2007. DWP is working to replace aging pipelines, with 110,000 linear feet to be upgraded next year.

A USC professor hypothesized that fluctuations in water pressure related to the city's conservation efforts could be putting added stress on the pipelines, but Nahai recently said he doubted that was the reason.