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Here's some additional background info from the same LAist article ...
NOTE: The hatches are rectangular lids, hinged and permanently affixed to the tops of the tanks. Opening one doesn't involve lifting it off, but rather pivoting it up and open. This would still require some effort, but not as much as having to completely lift the lid free.
Police had checked the roof during their investigation, but did not think to look in the tanks. Lopez said that he didn't notice anything wrong with the alarm on the door to the roof that day, nor had he heard it go off at any point during Lam's stay.
He said that to the best of his knowledge, no other hotel guests have ever been able to access the water tanks.
Pedro Tovar, the Cecil's chief engineer, noted that there are four ways to get onto the roof. Three fire escapes which you can get to via interior doors, and one staircase from the 14th floor. An alarm will sound if someone attempts to open the door to the roof if it is not deactivated first, something that typically only hotel employees would be able to do. If the alarm sounds, it is audible to the front desk, as well as the 14th and 15th floors.
Assuming one could get onto the roof undetected, Tovar said that you would first have to climb up to the platform the tanks sit on, then squeeze between them and other plumbing equipment. There, you'd find another ladder, which you could use to climb onto one of the four cisterns. Each has a heavy, metal lid, which you'd need to be able to open before you could get inside.
NOTE: The hatches are rectangular lids, hinged and permanently affixed to the tops of the tanks. Opening one doesn't involve lifting it off, but rather pivoting it up and open. This would still require some effort, but not as much as having to completely lift the lid free.