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Court Ruling Affirms CLWA Purchase Of Valencia Water Company

The Los Angeles Superior Court finds no merit in Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment’s legal challenge against CLWA’s purchase of Valencia Water Company.


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A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has ruled in favor of the Castaic Lake Water Agency in a lawsuit that challenged CLWA’s December 2012 purchase of Valencia Water Company.

“The petition is denied,” Judge Robert H. O’Brien wrote in the ruling, which found in favor of CLWA on all four claims in the 2013 lawsuit brought by Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment, which alleged the purchase violated state law.

CLWA President Tom Campbell said the ruling affirms what CLWA knew all along: that the Agency’s purchase of 100 percent of Valencia Water Company’s stock was well within the law.

“This purchase was not only legal, but also it was just a good water management decision,” Campbell said of the move, approved by the CLWA Board of Directors in December 2012 and completed in early 2013.

“As a result of both of these acquisitions, SCV water users will benefit from more cohesive water supply planning and long-term economies of scale that will improve cost effectiveness,” Campbell said.

Valencia Water Company, founded by Newhall Land to serve its master-planned Valencia communities, serves approximately 30,000 connections and 116,000 people.

About the Castaic Lake Water Agency:

The Castaic Lake Water Agency (CLWA) is the Santa Clarita Valley’s public water wholesaler. CLWA is one of 29 State Water Project contractors and receives water imported from northern California and Kern County through the California Aqueduct.  CLWA operates two large treatment plants, three major pump stations, three water storage facilities and over 45 miles of large diameter transmission pipelines delivering water to four local water retailers.  Our mission is to provide reliable, quality water at a reasonable cost to the Santa Clarita Valley.

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Court Ruling Affirms CLWA Purchase Of Valencia Water Company

3 comments

  1. Good water management? Then why are they raising rates? In fact Castaic will be holding a hearing to raise water rates over 13% on April 2nd at Valencia High School Multi purpose room 6PM. We urge everyone to attend, not only to protest the rate increase, but also this illegal creation of a monopoly. Did the Court not read AB134 that says CLWA can’t operate a ground water company outside the area of Santa Clarita Water Company ?(i.e. they can’t operate another water retailer) What is wrong with that Judge? Also, This is the same general manager,Dan Masnada, that told all the west siders that having an injection well is fine. Now that CLWA owns your water company, they want to raise your rates 13%. That is only the beginning.Hope to see you all on April 2nd

  2. Did the Court reaffirm this ruling? This is old news for now. The real news is that the board members that hold the stock of the Valencia Water Company are asking us for a water rate increase . “These increases are intended to fully recover operating expenses as well as to provide for a fair return on investment for the Company” Who is the Company? The board members holding the stock or Castaic Lake Water Agency.

    Valencia Water Company also wants automatically adjusted fees for the roughly 50% of water they will be purchasing from Castaic Lake Water Agency. Kind of a unknown increase but they will let us know at least 30 days before they hit us with that increase. Great deal for Castaic Lake Water Agency but not the rate payers of Valencia Water Company.

  3. It is important to remember some history Of the CLWA. When the California state legislature created the CLWA, a special district (i.e. a governing body owned by and responsible to the people in that district) to control the sale of water from the California Water Project (the aqueduct) to local water retailers (like Valencia Water), it (the CLWA) was prohibited from owning water retailers or selling water directly to consumers. When the CLWA bought the Santa Clarita Water Company (now Santa Clarita Water Division), this was an illegal act until our state legislature passed an ex post facto (don’t you just love Latin) law which stipulated that ‘OK, this purchase ( of SCWD) was legal’; but CLWA was not to purchase any more water retailers. Then CLWA purchased Valencia water. Though CLWA is a government body, There was no public discussion of the purchase. There was no third party, independent valuation of Valencia Water and were we the people paying a fair price. Though Valencia Water had no right to provide water to the development, Newhall Ranch, as part of the purchase agreement CLWA promised to provide water to consumers in Newhall Ranch, a building project owned by. Valencia Water and Newhall Ranch were both owned by Newhall Land and Farming.

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About Evan Stevens