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In this special edition of Water Currents, learn more about the status of our water supply, how to save water, as well as highlights on how we’re doing our part to secure safe, reliable local water supplies for our community.
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DROUGHT IS HERE
For many of us, it feels like the last drought just ended, and now thanks to a dry winter (the second one in a row), we are back in a drought.
In fact, Los Angeles County, including the Santa Clarita Valley, is experiencing an “extreme drought” and our local precipitation level is on track to be the driest year on record. In addition, California Governor Newsom has declared a drought emergency for many counties throughout the state, which directed state agencies to take immediate action to “bolster drought resilience and prepare for impacts on communities, businesses and ecosystems.” The Drought Monitor is updated weekly.
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OUR WATER SUPPLY
During normal years, about half of the water we consume is imported to us, starting as snowpack in the Sierra Nevada range in northern California. Due to extended drought conditions, we’ve been notified that we will only be able to access 5% of our State Water Project allocation, water that makes its way down the aqueduct to Castaic Lake. We will be withdrawing over 100% of our banked water supplies, and nearly half of our groundwater wells are out of service as we work to remove per- and polyfluoralkyl chemicals (PFAS) from the water.
While all of this news may sound grim, our dedicated SCV Water team has always planned for the (un)rainy day and is hard at work implementing strategies for drought-resilient water supplies and smart water initiatives to ensure we can meet our community's water needs today and for many years to come. In fact, we recently kicked off the Sustainable Water Action Team, our regional task force with leaders from SCV Water, the City of Santa Clarita, and the Los Angeles Waterworks District #36 to ensure we are addressing this statewide water issue together – as a community.
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WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP
But we need your help! We must all do our part to save Mother Nature’s finest resource: H20.
The entire SCV Water team thanks you for your continued stewardship and actions to protect and save these valuable water supplies. Please visit our special drought website, DroughtReadySCV.com, for tips, tools and information on how you can be more water-efficient.
SAVING WATER MADE SIMPLE
Small water-efficient actions add up to big water savings, and each gallon we save today will be a gallon we have next year. Together, we can all do our part to save water during the drought.
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SCV Water customers can get a $20 WATER bill credit and a customized home water-efficiency assessment by completing the online WaterSMART Workshop.
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HOW WE ARE SAVING WATER FOR NOW AND THE FUTURE
Our knowledgeable SCV Water team continues to invest in our water systems through securing grants and developing and managing our infrastructure to maintain a drought-resilient water supply for our community.
- Together with our customers, SCV Water has made significant investments in developing, maintaining and managing drought-resilient water supplies. This includes allocating more than $112 million to capital improvement projects.
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We have proactively planned for cyclical droughts and have developed a draft Water Shortage Contingency Plan. This plan ensures that we have adequate water supplies now and in the future.
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Our Groundwater Sustainability Plan and Urban Water Management Plan directs our long-term resource planning to guarantee water supplies are available to meet future water needs.
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We use recycled water at several locations throughout the SCV. We’re also expanding our recycled water program to ensure groundwater and imported water are saved for drinking.
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MORE INFORMATION
Our entire SCV Water team thanks you for your continued stewardship of our water supply. To date, many customers have achieved significant water savings and we encourage them to continue to keep up the good work. Want to share with us how you’re saving water for a chance to be featured in an upcoming edition of Water Currents, on our social media channels or on our website? Email us at [email protected] with the subject “Share my water saving’s story!”
We can’t be everywhere! Community members can help us by reporting water waste in the SCV, so we can make every drop count.
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SCV WATER TRIVIA
Did you know that on average 60 percent of the water our customers use happens outdoors? While it’s important to save water indoors through water-saving fixtures indoors and taking shorter showers, we can make a huge impact outside through simple tweaks to our outdoor water habits. For example – turning irrigation timers down by just one minute can save up to 20 gallons per zone. Learn more.
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27234 Bouquet Canyon Rd
Santa Clarita, CA 91350
(661) 297-1600
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