Southern California will spend hundreds of millions of dollars to repair water treatment and wastewater treatment infrastructure damaged in the April 4 Baja Earthquake, which was registered at 7.2 magnitude, state and city officials say.
In the city of El Centro, Director of Public Works/City Engineer Terry Hagen estimated that local public and private interests sustained $25 million in damage, although that estimate could grow. As many as 24 condominium units were evacuated when four of six 2-inch-dia anchor bolts sheared off an empty landmark, a 1924-era water tank. The city awarded an emergency $77,000 contract to remove the tank so that residents could return to their homes. An operating 5-million-gal tank ruptured. “It opened like a can of beans,” Hagen said.