Issues

Water Supply

The Santa Clarita Valley is blessed to have invested in diverse water supply sources that are providing resilient supplies even when facing challenges of an ongoing drought and groundwater contamination. Those sources include:

Our Local Alluvial and Saugus Formation groundwater supplies
Recycled Water used for irrigation purposes
Imported Water Supplies from the State Water Project and other sources
Water Banking and Water Exchanges that provide dry-year supplies

For the past 14 years I have worked to develop and manage these supplies to assure water is available to meet our Valley’s ongoing water needs.

To maintain a reliable water supply while meeting challenges of increasing stringent regulatory requirements and climate change, our Valley will need to continue to invest in water conservation, local groundwater and imported water supplies.

WATER QUALITY

Assuring that our drinking water supplies meet all State and Federal water quality standards is the highest priority!

We are fortunate to have a state of the art laboratory that is continually testing our water supplies as well at two modern surface water treatment plants that treat our imported surface water supplies. Unfortunately, may of our Valley’s groundwater wells have had to be taken out of service due to perchlorate, PFAS and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs).

The first of groundwater treatment facilities have been constructed and are operating, many more treatment facilities will be needed to recover this vital source of local water. I will prioritize these investments while seeking to recover costs from polluters and manufactures.

WATER MANAGEMENT

Managing water supplies while maintaining the environmental values in our area requires balancing of these needs. There is a path forward. We have prepared a Groundwater Sustainability Plan that achieves a balance. It uses state of the art computer modeling, physical monitoring that show how to preserves access to groundwater while protecting the environment along the Santa Clara River.

As climate change occurs, our water supply infrastructure will be challenged with longer droughts and the decline in snow pack will mean higher winter flows in rivers. Adapting to these challenges we’ll need to:

Build more treatment system to recover you local groundwater supplies
Use recycled water to irrigate landscapes
Using available supplies more efficiently by implementing new water conservation programs
Investing in programs that store more wet year water for use during dry-years
Updating existing infrastructure ensure deliveries of imported supplies

Water Supplies and Growth – There is a misconception that SCV Water can determine the extent of future growth in our community. The reality is that the City and County that plan for and approve new development. It is the responsibility and obligation by law then for the SCV Water Agency to find and provide water supplies for our current and future water users.