Crews are working to determine the source of the possible leak and the impact to the estimated timeline to reopen Sunset Boulevard. Robert Kovacik reports for the NBC4 News at 11 p.m. on Wednesday, July 22, 2026.
Crews with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power were working to repair a small leak discovered Wednesday night near a water pipe that caused flooding and forced the shutdown of Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood.
Water was seen pooling on the eastern edge of the surface that crews were backfilling and preparing for paving after making repairs to the section of broken pipe at around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, the utility said. On Thursday, the agency provided an update on what caused the pooling.
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WATCH HERE"LADWP crews continued repaving and striping of Sunset Boulevard early this morning while working to repair a small pinhole sized leak identified last night at the east end of the worksite," the LADWP said. "Overnight crews excavated an approximately 8×10 foot area to locate the affected area. Water quality samples were taken from the pipe this morning and will be followed by welding a patch at the site of the leak. If all goes well, the excavation will be repacked and paved."
Ellen Cheng with the LADWP said the issue was near where the replacement pipe was installed, not on it.
"What I'm learning is that when we're doing work like this, other leaks can happen in the course of doing the work," Cheng said. "This is not unusual. This can happen, and they immediately identified it and were able to really expedite this repair."
Repairs to the small leak were finished Thursday afternoon, the utility said in a 7 p.m. update.
The development comes nearly a week after the water main break unleashed roughly 17 million gallons of water into a West Hollywood neighborhood last Thursday. Crews were appearing to make steady progress and getting ready to resurface Sunset Boulevard, with officials aiming to reopen the popular street by the end of the week.
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Late Wednesday night, NewsChopper4 was above the sinkhole repair site, where it appeared the paving process was continuing. Cones could be seen surrounding where the LADWP believed the possible leak, or potentially water from the slurry, was coming from as crews covered the areas around the cones with pavement.
"Our crews are working to ensure the integrity of the pipe and repairs meet water quality requirements, and repave and re-stripe the street," the department said Thursday. "When the pipe repair is completed, LADWP will bring the pipe back to service slowly, monitor it and will be prepared to address any issues that may arise. Currently, there are no known impacts to our goal of reopening the street Friday."
NBCLA's Jonathan Lloyd contributed to this report.
