While water supply will always be an issue of concern for all of southern California due to its semi-arid climate, water supplies in the Santa Clarita Valley are sufficient to meet residents’ needs.  In addition, SCV Water is constantly working to enhance the future reliability of its imported water supply and is investigating new supply opportunities.  We participate in water banking programs to maximize the availability of our State Water Project deliveries, which involve storing water in groundwater “banks” in Kern County and allow us to maintain water reserves for years of low rainfall and decreasing imported water deliveries.

Our water supply remains sufficient to meet residents’ needs, in part due to the community’s ongoing conservation efforts.  Water conserved today is stored for a future dry year.

We are currently designing Recycled Water Projects Phases 2A and 2C.  These projects will supply about 1,600 acre feet per year of recycled water to the Santa Clarita Valley and are designed to serve areas with large irrigation customers that are currently located away from the existing recycled water system.  Some examples of large irrigation customers are Central Park, College of the Canyons and the California Institute of the Arts.  The Recycled Water Phase 2 estimated cost is $46.4 million.

The Honby Pipeline Project is also in design and, when completed, will eliminate a restriction in water supply distribution.  The new pipeline will increase the ability of the Agency to distribute water to the eastern part of the service area.  The estimated project cost is $21.0 million.

The Castaic Conduit Bypass Pipeline Replacement project will also expand the ability to distribute water in the valley.  This project will replace a section of aging pipe that is difficult to maintain and represents a bottleneck in the distribution system.  The estimated project cost is $14.9 million.

The Agency recently finished an expansion of its Rio Vista Water Treatment Plant that increased capacity from 30 mgd to 66 mgd.  The plant treats State Water Project and other imported water and delivers it to the four local water purveyors.  The expansion provides additional treatment capacity to meet the growing needs of the Valley.  Total project cost is approximately $58.4 million.

The Agency and local retailers continuously work to make sure the valley has a reliable water supply.  We have developed a diverse water supply portfolio with two principal sources of imported water, two sources of groundwater, recycled water and banked water for dry-years.

We have a variety of banking programs in place and have stored a combined 145,000 acre feet of water.  This water is stored during years of adequate rainfall in northern California, the source of our imported State Water Project supply.  This water will be accessible in future dry or drought years.

That diverse supply portfolio is reflected in our recently completed Urban Water Management Plan, which projects water demand and supply through 2050.  Existing supplies along with the development of recycled water and implementation of water use efficiency practices for residents and businesses in the Valley ensure a reliable water supply into the future.  You can review the Urban Water Management Plan here.

It is SCV Water’s responsibility to provide supplemental imported water to meet the needs of current and future water users located within our boundaries. SCV Water is not responsible for planning future growth in the Santa Clarita Valley.  The County of Los Angeles and the City of Santa Clarita have that responsibility.  The City adopted its One Valley One Vision (OVOV) General Plan Update, and the County is current considering its OVOV update.  These are documents that propose future land use, analyze the impacts and propose mitigation measures.

SCV Water is not currently annexing additional lands into its service area unless landowners bring a fully reliable water supply for their property.  This policy protects SCV Water residents and property owners from development outside the existing service negatively impacting the water supply availability and reliability to residents, businesses and property owners inside the service area.

SCV Water recognizes the importance of a reliable, high quality water supply to the residents of the Santa Clarita Valley.  We encourage residents to be good stewards of this natural resource.  SCV Water looks to assist its customers in that effort and has several programs in place to promote water conservation, efficiency and public education programs.