Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : State Water Information Site Opens

Vista del Lago, the comprehensive information center about water and California’s complex system of transporting it, opened with no fanfare but a steady trickle of visitors Monday.

The long-awaited opening came after a five-month delay as health officials verified the safety of the center’s drinking water.

Overlooking Pyramid Lake to the west and the Golden State Freeway to the east, the 18,500-square-foot, Spanish Mediterranean-style building is projected to draw 200,000 people annually and twice that number by 1998. The $8-million center is funded by the California Department of Water Resources, with cooperation from the Metropolitan Water District and the U. S. Forest Service. Admission is free to the public.

“We would like (visitors) to learn the importance of water in California and the role of the State Water Project,” said Robert Hallwachs, public affairs representative for the Metropolitan Water District.

Minor changes were made to the facility while officials waited to see if its drinking water drawn from Pyramid Lake passed state and federal health standards. Canceled water projects, in the planning stages when the center was designed in 1989, have since been removed from exhibits and newer display equipment has been installed in other areas.

The center includes a theater that seats 138. Each wing has high ceilings, wall-sized displays and is filled with “water facts” ranging from the amount of water necessary to produce an eight-ounce steak (1,232 gallons) or single egg (63 gallons) to the appliance that uses the most water in the home (the toilet).

The entrance to the State Water Project chamber is bracketed by one of the smaller pipes that carries 1.25 million gallons of water per minute in San Bernardino County. Visitors walk through the pipe way that measures 13 feet in diameter with walls two feet thick.

Viewfinders stocked with slides about state water plants are available and a panel of synchronized lights representing flowing water winds its way through a central display. A bucket filled with 2 1/2 gallons of water hangs from a pulley system, and visitors are encouraged to raise it to the ceiling and learn about the centrifugal pumps that raise 1.8 gallons per minute over the Tehachapi Mountains.