Valley City Could Face High Water Rates, Expert Warns

A new San Fernando Valley city might face higher water rates and a dicier water supply during an emergency, a UC San Diego urban studies expert told a group of Valley business leaders Friday.

Steven P. Erie, director of UC San Diego’s Urban Studies and Planning Program, alerted members of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. to the “speed bumps” that might stand between the Valley and independence. He said, for example, that water rights agreements that predate the Valley’s inclusion in the city of Los Angeles in 1914-15 may affect the Valley’s supply of water during droughts.

He also said a new Valley city would probably rely on more water from the Metropolitan Water District, which MWD officials acknowledged sells higher-priced water than the Department of Water and Power. That, he said, might boost Valley water rates.

“All of the rates will be negotiated,” he said, in an interview after his talk at the Radisson Valley Center Hotel. “I don’t think the power rates will go up, but there might be some be some upward pressure on water rates, because MWD water is higher.”

The biggest water-power issue facing a new city “is the preexisting water rights of the city [of Los Angeles] before the Valley got incorporated and what that means,” he said.

“When demand exceeds supply, that becomes an issue,” said Erie, who is a member of the Governor’s Commission on Building for the 21st Century.

Jeff Brain, head of the group pushing Valley cityhood, said some of the rights issues will be sorted out by the Local Agency Formation Commission for Los Angeles County, which is studying secession of the Valley and the Harbor area from Los Angeles. Erie said those agency decisions could prompt lawsuits, which would keep the issue unsettled for years.

“This is all uncharted and new stuff,” Erie said. “The lawyers may wrestle with this for 10-15 years.”