EDITORIAL SYSTEM FAILURE.

ANGELENOS got a glimpse of the city's terrifyingly aging electrical system during the prolonged heat wave of July. Transformers were maxing out immediately after they were installed, and the city was hit by blackouts during some of the hottest days in memory.

Last week, Angelenos got two more lessons in how both the water infrastructure and the service of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power are breaking down.

The first lesson began more than four months ago, when the residents of Day Street in Tujunga first complained to the DWP about a leaking water pipe. But no crews ever showed up to fix the broken line, despite wasting a gallon of water each minute, destroying part of the road and creating an algae bloom. It took the attention of the news media and an elected official to get the DWP to put the problem on its ``to do'' list.

Even before the Day Street leak was fixed, Northridge residents experienced an even more catastrophic water system failure. On Wednesday, residents reported water coming out of a break. Hours later, when DWP crews still hadn't fixed it, the water main burst, flooding and damaging several homes.

These failures have been in the works for decades, as city and utility officials looted rather than invested in preparing the water and electric system for the demands of modern life. Those poor past choices are starting to be felt by the public as it becomes clear that the most basic services -- water and power -- aren't as reliable as they should be.

The DWP planned to meet this weekend with neighborhood councils to discuss the system's recent failures. No doubt the topic of rising water rates and broken lines will come up as well.

It's up to these citizen activists to demand the communication continue beyond this one meeting and to do what elected officials have failed to do for years -- force utility officials to finally put revenue toward reinvestment in the infrastructure before the system reaches complete failure.