Council to Look at Plan to Conserve Water in Santa Clarita

The Santa Clarita City Council will consider a water-conservation ordinance tonight, but the voluntary program would not be as stringent as conservation plans proposed elsewhere in Southern California.

The measure, which will probably be revised before it is adopted, was drafted by the four water purveyors serving the Santa Clarita Valley. It is patterned after an ordinance proposed for Los Angeles County.

Dan Masnada, vice president of Valencia Water Co., said Monday that the purveyors do not anticipate the need for water rationing in the Santa Clarita Valley because local wells, which provide half of the region’s water, continue to provide sufficient supplies despite the drought.

The purveyors receive about half their water from the Castaic Lake Water Agency, which is facing cutbacks by the State Water Project.

The purveyors asked the City Council to adopt a water-conservation measure after the state Department of Water Resources recently said local water agencies could anticipate receiving at least 50% less this year, Masnada said.

The other local purveyors are Santa Clarita Water Co., Newhall County Water District and Los Angeles Water District No. 36.

The Santa Clarita proposal is intended to produce a 10% cutback in consumption but does not set reduction goals for each household and business.

A tougher measure being considered in the city of Los Angeles would force reductions of 10% next month and up to 15% in May. Consumers would be fined or incur surcharges for violations.

Although a Metropolitan Water District subcommittee recommended Monday that the district cut deliveries to Southern California by nearly a third, the Santa Clarita Valley is not one of the 27 areas from Santa Barbara to San Diego that depend on the district.

A strict water-conservation plan is not yet needed in the Santa Clarita Valley, Masnada said.

In fact, the Santa Clarita proposal incorporates measures that already are second nature for many Californians as the state enters its fifth year of drought.

The Santa Clarita measure, for example, would make it illegal to hose off sidewalks and driveways and prohibit watering landscaping between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., the hours water is lost most to evaporation. Under the ordinance, vehicles would have to be washed by hand or with hoses equipped with automatic shut-off nozzles.

The measure would allow restaurants to serve water only on request and prohibit fountains that do not use recycled water.

“For the kind of effort we’re looking for, it’s a minor inconvenience at most,” Masnada said.

If the Santa Clarita measure is adopted, violators could be fined $100 for the first infraction and $500 for each additional violation.