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Commentary: A perfect storm for water woes in the SCV

Posted by: Maven on April 23, 2009 at 6:35 am

From the Santa Clarita Signal, this commentary by Cam Noltemeyer:

Managers of Castaic Lake Water Agency have often stated that drought does not occur in northern and southern California at the same time, so we would always have an adequate water supply. And for this year anyway, they were right. The Santa Clarita Valley has enjoyed slightly better than average rainfall, while diminished snow packs in Northern California have severely reduced our access to water from the State Water Project.

However, a massive building spree that ignored future water supply problems and a polluted ground water source has created a “perfect storm” of problems.

Although ammonium perchlorate pollution (a by-product of rocket fuel and ordinance manufacture) was discovered in the valley’s deep Saugus Aquifer in 1997. Six of the water agencies’ highest producing wells were closed, and the facilities to clean up that water are still not operating. Environmental groups have long complained that housing approvals should be delayed until the cleanup project was completed to avoid water supply shortages that could possibly force blended use of this polluted water source.

Now, some 12 years later, and with an impending water crisis, those wells have still not been returned to service. The insurance company that was supposed to help pay for the cleanup, AIG, has experienced severe financial problems, and the cleanup will not provide the same water production as the closed wells. CLWA’s proposed completion date, originally asserted to occur some five years ago, has slipped once again to July of this year. We can only hope that it doesn’t slip further and that this new technology actually works as predicted.

Read more of this commentary by Cam Noltemeyer in the Santa Clarita Signal by clicking here.

April 23, 2009 · Filed Under Southern California

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