LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council yesterday approved an adjustment to the City of Los Angeles' Water Rate Ordinance, an action that will ensure that LADWP has sufficient revenues to complete upcoming projects necessary to comply with federal and state water quality regulations and meet compliance deadlines. The modifications include a 35-cent increase to the Water Quality Improvement Adjustment Factor, a component of the rate LADWP charges customers for water, which prior to this adjustment was insufficient to fund major legally mandated drinking water quality projects that are the subject of a compliance agreement entered into by the LADWP with the California Department of Public Health and United States Environmental Protection Agency.

"Keeping the water safe for our customers is the Water System’s top priority and to do that we need to comply with drinking water quality regulations,” said LADWP General Manager Ron Nichols. “Water rates in Los Angeles, even with this increase, remain competitive with other utilities in the region while allowing us to proceed with construction of urgently needed drinking water quality projects. It also protects our water customers from paying more over the long-term by avoiding significant penalties and fines that would result from failing to comply with legal mandates. We are grateful to the City Council for recognizing the urgency of this request.”

Compliance with State and Federal water quality regulations requires major investment in LADWP’s water distribution system, including nearly $600 million in new contracts that must be awarded in the next 12 months. The first of these contracts is for the Headworks Reservoir for $218 million, as part of LADWP's compliance requirement to cover, bypass or remove from service all 10 water reservoirs in the Los Angeles basin. Five have been covered or bypassed to date, and five more remain -- including Silver Lake and Ivanhoe, which will be replaced by the Headworks Reservoir.

The modifications to the Water Rate Ordinance approved by City Council today are subject to review by the Mayor, and are expected to take effect in late March 2012.

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LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners on Tuesday approved the implementation of a new program called First Source Hiring, a free job referral system designed to help local job seekers located in LADWP’s service area find employment with companies working on LADWP contracts. Administered by the LADWP Economic Development Group, the program will also benefit LADWP contractors by saving them the time and resources needed to find suitable candidates to hire.

Through a fully automated web-based job portal, job seekers can review job postings and complete online applications. Similarly, employers will be able to track applicants, prescreen, rank and sort candidates.

LADWP’s program expects to build on the success First Source has already had at other City Departments, including Los Angeles World Airports. The program will have a two-step implementation process beginning with a 12-month pilot program. During the pilot phase, it will only be open to LADWP contracts for professional services consisting of $500,000 or more in direct labor costs.

First Source Hiring replaces the former Job Opportunities Training Program, which focused solely on providing job skill training to unemployed or underemployed persons within LADWP’s service area. First Source is a more cost-effective workforce development program because it increases job seekers’ chances of finding full-time employment by directly linking them to existing employment opportunities.

For more information on First Source and participation requirements, prospective employers and job seekers should contact the LADWP Economic Development Group at 1-800-864-4409 or email edg@ladwp.com.

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