Supervisors Agree to Join Water Study
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to spend $80,000 so it can participate in a study of long-term water supply needs in the Antelope Valley.
The supervisors voted 3 to 0, without discussion, to allow the eight county waterworks districts in the Antelope Valley to participate and pay for the study. The study, which will cost about $545,000, is a joint effort of both the U. S. Geological Survey and a private consultant to be named later. It will be administered by the city of Palmdale.
The $80,000 is only an initial authorization. Eventually, the water districts will be asked to contribute an additional $115,000 toward the cost of the study, said Jim Snyder, a spokesman for the county Department of Public Works.
The U. S. Geological Survey and the state Department of Water Resources already have studied the ground-water basin in the Antelope Valley. But the studies were completed long ago, before most of the urbanization in the area depleted water resources, DPW officials said. Snyder said the new study is needed to see how fast existing water supplies are being tapped and to determine long-term needs.
Snyder said the study will take as long as two years.
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