Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Battle Over Water Firm’s Sale Expected to Heat Up

A battle brewing over the proposed sale of a local water company could heat up Wednesday at a hearing where interested buyers, including the Castaic Lake Water Agency and the city of Santa Clarita, are expected to present their cases to the public.

At issue is who will own and control Santa Clarita Valley Water Co., which serves nearly 20,000 of the 50,000 water connections in the Santa Clarita Valley.

The Castaic water agency wants to buy the company, in part, to settle a 1991 lawsuit over the allocation of state water.

Purchasing the company would allow the Castaic agency to reallocate water to needier districts and to move forward with a water management plan for the Santa Clarita Valley, said Mary Spring, president of the Castaic board of directors.

Spring said her agency plans to improve water quality and to maintain current water rates for at least three years.

But the claim of maintaining rates is not without critics. Ed Dunn, a director of the Newhall County Water District, predicts “sky high” rate increases if the sale goes through.

Meanwhile, Santa Clarita city officials say they too are interested in buying the local water company.

City Manager George Caravalho said ownership would allow the city to maintain a check-and-balance system between wholesale water suppliers such as the Castaic agency and retail water purveyors.

The sale would also enable the city to provide quick emergency relief in the event of a natural disaster, to work with other water purveyors on a ground-water management plan and to have representation on the water board, which establishes rates, Caravalho said.

Caravalho said some developers oppose the concept of the city buying the water company because they believe that the city will use its ownership position to take a slow anti-growth posture in Santa Clarita. He said the city has no such plans.

The public hearing is scheduled for Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Valley View Elementary School at 19414 Sierra Estates in Canyon Country.