KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
A group of protesters gathered before a joint public hearing held by Castaic Lake Water Agency and Newhall County Water District officials Wednesday evening to discuss the draft 2015 Urban Water Management Plan.
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While the focus of the hearing involved the presentation of the plan and its components, residents stood at the entrance to Central Park with signs stating “We demand a vote” and “Don’t dissolve Newhall Water” in protest of the proposed merger between the two agencies.
Photo by Melissa Lampert.
Ed Dunn, former president of NCWD, spoke during a public comment period prior to the presentation of the UWMP, stating that he was present at the hearing on behalf of the demonstrators.
“I think that you better rethink what you’re doing and all this money that you’re spending and squandering … trying to make a merger and make (the agencies) bigger,” Dunn said, addressing both agencies’ board of directors. “They made the special districts on purpose, to make them small and more accountable to the public.”
The board of directors did not address Dunn’s comments, and no other public speakers addressed the matter during the comment period.
Related: Officials Weigh Castaic Lake Water Agency, Newhall County Water District Merger
A series of presentations regarding the components of the 2015 UWMP then followed, including a detailed discussion of the differences between the previous 2010 plan and the current draft.
Several changes to the current plan include a more flexible approach to the demand measurement section and the addition of a new term called passive savings, which reflects a more “true picture of what’s going on with demand and the overall service area,” said Mary Lou Cotton of the UWMP team.
Presenters also discussed the plan’s sources of supply, water banking and exchange programs, local supply and demand, water quality and water shortage contingency planning, during which board members from both CLWA and NCWD voiced concerns and asked questions.
A second public comment hearing followed the presentations, during which three people gave feedback on the 2015 UWMP.
For the second time that evening Dunn took the podium, this time to address the 2015 UWMP’s recycled water component.
Dunn claimed that Santa Clarita residents producing recycled water are not the ones able to use it, and advised the board of directors and UWMP team to “get a master plan to the entire community and start supplying recycled water to all of it, to the people that are making it.”
Alan Ferdman, chair of the Canyon Country Advisory Committee, also spoke about his concerns regarding recycled water in relation to the Sanitation District, as well as his views on the practice of water banking.
“Why are you spending our money banking things that we can’t get to and not anticipating that the government is going to take the water from us in a drought situation?” he asked board members. “I think it is a little bit naive.”
While board members chose not to address these public comments at the time of the hearing, CLWA President Thomas Campbell noted, “We are not looking to adopt the Urban Water Management Plan this evening. This is for information only… What we’ll be doing is taking the comments in, and if necessary, making revisions to the document and bringing those back the next time. We’re here to listen and gather feedback in preparation for the final plan.”
A final public hearing for the 2015 UWMP is scheduled to take place at the CLWA, located at 27234 Bouquet Canyon Road behind Central Park in Santa Clarita, on June 8, 2016, during which a final document will be presented for approval.
The finalized plan must be submitted to the Department of Water Resources by July 1, 2016.
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So the plan says there is plenty of water for the 500,000 people they plan to have in Santa CLarita. Guess how? by reducing demand (that means imposing restriction use). Oh brother. I am with those protesters! We don’t need a huge water monopoly in this valley. Of course certain supplies will be directed to Newhall Land projects whether the rest of the residents need the water or not.
Some Reasons why this is not a good idea:
• After a year of “negotiations” behind closed doors, CLWA is now going to try to “consolidate” Newhall County Water District into their financial quagmire. These discussions were never agendized by either agency. This is illegal..
• Monopolies are NOT efficient. How can absorbing Newhall County District into CLWA when CLWA is already over 1/3 of a billion dollars in debt be a good thing for the public? Just recently CLWA approved another $71 million borrowing. Making this out of control agency bigger will not reduce rates.
• With a CLWA water monopoly, our water rates will rise, Who will benefit from this?
• With the entire Valley’s water resources consolidated under one monopoly, what is to stop this new mega-agency from shipping our less expensive ground water to Newhall Ranch and other new developments while all the existing residents pay more for imported water and must cut back?
• The new 15 member board would be unmanageable, inefficient and wasteful.
What you can do:
• Call for a legislative audit of CLWA – It’s time for an audit to see what is really happening with all the millions of dollars squandered, the shady Financing Corporation they created, and votes to extend their bond borrowing. Are they even operating within their legal state debt limits?
• Demand a vote of Newhall County Water District Customers.
• Oppose this takeover attempt.
Email your legislators: [email protected] [email protected],gov