Water Lacking for Newhall Ranch Project, Critics Say

Picture 70,000 newcomers moving to a swath of semiarid land over the next quarter of a century. Make that 70,000 thirsty newcomers--with showers to take, lawns to groom, pools to fill, and cars, laundry and dishes to wash.

Those masses could be flocking to the behemoth planned Newhall Ranch project in the far reaches of Los Angeles County, near Ventura County’s northeastern flank. Quenching the residents’ thirst will take a steady, heavy flow of water as the project is built in stages over 25 years.

But a growing number of critics on both sides of the county line insist that Newhall Ranch doesn’t have--and would not be able to get--the water it would need. If the project is approved, they fear, it will take precious water that belongs to someone else.

As the proposed city of 24,351 dwellings along the Santa Clara River wends through Los Angeles County’s planning process, opponents believe that a lack of reliable water sources should stop it--fast.

Ventura County Supervisor Kathy Long is among them. She and her colleagues are considering a lawsuit to halt the project if the water concerns aren’t answered satisfactorily.

“My concern is the elusiveness of the Newhall Ranch water flow chart,” said the supervisor, whose district abuts the project. “There have been major wars fought over water. . . . And this [project] is certainly something that our board is concerned with.”

Newhall Ranch’s water plan relies on a mix of imported water from the State Water Project, creek flood flows and water recycling, but makes little mention of ground water.

“It looks like a bit of a shell game,” said John Buse, a staff lawyer for the Environmental Defense Center in Ventura. “It’s not unlike what a lot of developers say about water: We’ll get it somewhere.”

Newhall Land & Farming, the developer planning the city called Newhall Ranch, is well aware of the water concerns, said spokeswoman Marlee Lauffer. But the fears are baseless, she said.

“We are confident that the water will be there when we’re ready to build Newhall Ranch,” possibly as soon as the year 2000, she said. “When the time comes to pull building permits for the actual development, the county [of Los Angeles] has a safeguard in place to make sure the water is available.”

With a project of such sheer magnitude, though, assurances and building permit safeguards aren’t good enough, say Ventura County supervisors, planners, environmentalists and the head of a neighboring water district.

Critics worry what would happen during future droughts, if an instant suburb in the middle of parched lands is built on a shaky foundation of unreliable water.

They fret that Newhall Ranch could sap underground water reserves dry before the water trickles downstream into Ventura County’s aquifer system. And their fears are only exacerbated by Newhall Ranch’s draft environmental impact report, which gives scant ink to what effect the project might have on Ventura County.

So concerned are area government leaders and water experts that they have begun to lay a thick paper trail in preparation for legal battle.

Ventura County officials answered Newhall Ranch’s voluminous draft environmental impact report with a 132-page response, plus attachments.

“Our concern is that they’re not addressing the [project’s] impacts to Ventura County,” county Senior Planner Scott Ellison said. “They’re not identifying the impacts; they’re not mitigating the impacts--they’re ignoring us. Most of their analysis stops at the county line. . . . That’s not permitted under state environmental law.”

Los Angeles County planners said they will answer those concerns--as well as those raised by other groups--by the end of October. By year’s end, the regional planning commission is expected to vote on the project’s specific plan, planner Lee Stark said.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors could then begin public hearings on the plan, which covers 19 square miles and includes 10 new schools, creation of a lake, a golf course and more.

Newhall officials say the project is eco-friendly, setting aside vast stretches of open space and leaving the 100-mile-long Santa Clara River, Southern California’s last free-flowing waterway, all but unscathed.

Critics scoff at those claims. If approved, the city would dump traffic onto California 126. They contend that it would further foul the Santa Clarita Valley’s already murky air and possibly threaten three endangered species--including the recently listed steelhead trout.

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To scuttle Newhall Ranch, foes on both sides of the county line are scrutinizing the project’s water sources. When every last house is occupied, Newhall Land & Farming estimates that the project will consume 19,345 acre-feet of water a year--enough to fill the Los Angeles Coliseum about two dozen times.

So where will the water come from?

In a typical year, 37% of the total will come from reclaimed water, said James M. Harter, an executive with Newhall Land. The company plans to build a $7-million treatment plant to turn sewage effluent into water for irrigation and other non-potable outdoor purposes.

About 28% of the project’s water could be supplied by Newhall Land’s historic right to rainfall runoff from Castaic Creek, water that would have naturally flowed downstream to the property if the Castaic Dam hadn’t been built.

Another 35% of the project’s water would be imported from Northern California through the State Water Project, delivered by wholesaler Castaic Lake Water Agency to retailer Valencia Water Co.