Efforts to quell RPV land movement seem to be working

Land movement in Rancho Palos Verdes has slowed by 76% since September, and city leaders say it is primarily thanks to their dewatering efforts.

City Manager Ara Mihranian tells KNX News' Nataly Tavidian that they're pumping out more than a million gallons of water per day from their ten wells and have managed to extract 40 million gallons since the dewatering began two months ago.

"It's given everybody a glimmer of hope that we are turning the page," said Mihranian. "The dewatering efforts combined with a dry summer... it's starting to show some positive results, and we're seeing movement go from where we were reporting almost a year ago, 12 inches a week, we're now in some areas, 3 inches a week; other areas are 5 inches a week."

The city is also filling up fissures to stop more water from seeping in, but city leadership is saying that they don't know what the rainy season will bring, so they're bracing for it.

Applications for the voluntary home buyout program have been closed due to limited funds. For now, the city is offering buyouts for red-tagged homes and then moving on to yellow-tagged homes if the city receives more federal funds.

Since the buyout was announced in late October, more people have asked for voluntary inspection, increasing the number of red-tagged properties from two to 20 and nearly 40 yellow-tagged homes.