Development May Need to Tap New Water Sources

A water expert for the agency that helped stall the Newhall Ranch housing project said Friday he believes the developers will be forced to shop around California for new sources of water if they ever expect to build the 22,000-home mini-city along the Santa Clara River east of Fillmore.

The project on the western edge of Los Angeles County would require an estimated 17,680 acre-feet of water--the equivalent of 442,000 backyard swimming pools--each year.

In a ruling this week, Kern County Superior Court Judge Roger D. Randall said the project’s environmental impact report fails to prove it can deliver much of the water it has the rights to from the State Water Project.

Without the water, Newhall would during years of drought have to rely more heavily on reclaimed water, which can be used for irrigation, and water conservation methods such as injecting into aquifers in wet years so the water can be tapped as needed.

But Randall in his ruling found that Newhall Ranch had not sufficiently studied how effectively the aquifers could hold the injected water, and said if company predictions were wrong it could hurt the project and potentially harm Ventura County users downstream, including a $1-billion agriculture industry.

Satisfying Randall’s concerns means hiring experts and conducting extensive research, including creation of a ground water model that could calculate the impacts of increased pumping, said Steve Bachman, ground water manager for the United Water Conservation District in Santa Paula. The agency, along with Ventura County, sued Los Angeles County and the Newhall Ranch developers, arguing that the EIR failed to protect Ventura County ground water.

Even after those studies, Bachman said, “I think they need to get more outside sources of water,” a prospect he said is becoming increasingly difficult as Southern California’s population rises, environmental protections intensify, other states tap more into the Colorado River and the city of Los Angeles’ predicted water supply diminishes.

Newhall Land & Farming Co. has downplayed the impact of the ruling. Spokeswoman Marlee Lauffer on Friday maintained the company could prove within a year that its plan is technically sound.

“A lot of the information we already have, we just have to put it in a manner that crosses all the t’s and dots the i’s,” she said.

Bob Sagehorn, general manager of Castaic Lake Water Agency, which has agreed to help serve Newhall Ranch, said he believes Newhall’s housing project--the largest ever approved in Southern California--can still be built, without drawing new water sources across the state.

His agency recently acquired the rights to 41,000 acre-feet of water each year from Kern County. A portion of the water would be available for the Newhall project, he said.

Randall did not consider that as an additional water source in his ruling, because the water agency did not have the rights at the time Newhall’s environmental impact report was complete.

But as Newhall goes back to the drawing board, the water from Castaic could be included in a revised report.

“We’re going to be available to tell their water story as we see it,” Sagehorn said. “In my opinion, I think they will have the water. It will be our mission to help them meet those future needs.”

Randall, however, did acknowledged the water rights in his ruling, but said only half the 41,000 acre feet would be available, based on historical information on water use. The judge concluded the overall water availability was too uncertain to allow the project to go forward.

The company has not decided whether to appeal Randall’s decision, but Lauffer said Newhall also has not ruled out seeking water from outside sources.

“I’m not going to answer those questions at this time,” Lauffer said. “We’re just in the earliest stages. We’re rolling up our sleeves and trying to understand what he’s [Randall] looking for.

“Our primary focus is that we need to provide more specifics on how the flows from Castaic Creek can be stored and used,” she said. “But there’s absolutely no question that we have the water to serve Newhall Ranch.”

Ventura County Supervisor Kathy Long, whose district includes the Santa Clara Valley, said Newhall has more to overcome than it admits. “If you’d asked me two months ago, I would have said they’d get maybe 8,000 homes. Now they may be stuck with none,” Long said.

Separately, the state Public Utilities Commission is holding hearings on whether Valencia Water Co., a Newhall subsidiary, should be allowed to increase the ground water it pumps for other projects--a request that has caught the attention of Ventura County lawyers in light of Newhall’s promise not to pump additional ground water.

Meanwhile, state officials are concerned over lowered water quality in the Santa Clarita Valley because pumping has already increased throughout the area, said Antonette Cordero, Ventura County assistant county counsel.

Newhall Ranch, which would require an estimated 25 years to build, would provide housing for an estimated 70,000 residents and span 12,000 acres near the Magic Mountain theme park.