Officials of the Newhall County Water District have sent a letter to the head of the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District asking for the formation of a “technical working group” to re-evaluate the criteria surrounding chloride monitoring in light of recent judicial opinions.

The letter was addressed to Stephen R. Maguin, Chief Engineer and General Manager. Maguin has been the point man at the community meetings, making presentations and dire predictions of soaring penalties if new, higher fees are not approved.

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Re: Santa Clara River Chloride TMDL and AWRM

Dear Mr. Maguin:

Newhall County Water District (NCWD) is requesting the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District (SCVSD) reconsider some of the technical components relied upon in developing the Alternative Water Resource Management Plan (AWRM). Specifically, NCWD is concerned that some of the principle assumptions underlying the AWRM based upon the historical operating criteria for the State Water Project (SWP), are no longer applicable. Recent judicial rulings have significantly changed the SWP operating criteria and the results of recent chloride monitoring of SWP chloride levels during drought conditions have proven to be much lower than historical levels during similar periods.

Given this recent significant change in the SWP operating criteria, NCWD believes a more cost effective solution could be reached which will still achieve the goals of the AWRM. As a signer to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which outlined the AWRM, NCWD would like to have a technical working group convene to determine if the discharge water quality goals can be achieved in a more efficient and less costly manner. NCWD suggests this group should include representatives from the upstream and downstream water community and environmental and business interests. Realizing the urgency of this situation, it is imperative we more quickly to determine if another more cost effective solution is feasible.

NCWD looks forward to continuing to work with the SCVSD and the other MOU participants to ensure we meet regional discharge limits in the most technologically efficient and cost effective manner.

Sincerely,

Newhall County Water District

Stephen L. Cole, General Manager

The letter was copied to:

• Mike Solomon, President, United Water Conservation District
• Dan Masnada, General Manager, Castaic Lake Water Agency
• Mauricio Guardado, Manager, Santa Clarita Water Division
• Keith Abercrombie, President, Valencia Water
• Robert P. Roy, Chairman, Ventura Co. Agricultural Water Quality Coalition
• L.A.County Waterworks District No. 36
• State Water Resources Control Board
• Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region IX
• Sanitation District Board Members
• Friends of the Santa Clara River
• Heal the Bay
• SCOPE
• Farm Bureau of Ventura County

Reaction to the communique and why the NCWD was inspired to write the letter will be explored in part two of this story, tomorrow on hometownstation.com