December 11, 2019
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Message from the General Manager
Valued Customer:

Ensuring that water that is safe to drink and reaches your home 24/7 is a top priority for the SCV Water team.

You may have heard recent quarterly water well testing detected perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluoroctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), known as PFAS.
 
PFAS are found in thousands of commonly used products, like non-stick cookware, food wrappers, firefighting foam and cleaning products. And, like many communities throughout the nation, tiny amounts of PFAS have entered our water supply.
 
To monitor for PFAS and other substances, we test thousands of times per year to ensure our water meets or surpasses state and national water-quality standards.
 
We are committed to clear and timely communication, and this special edition of Water Currents is full of information on PFAS and how we are taking immediate steps to tackle this substance in our drinking water through new, innovative strategies and proven treatment options.
 
We welcome any questions/comments you may have.

Sincerely,
Matt Stone
General Manager
SCV Water
LOCAL PFAS NEWS
Commitment to Water Quality:
Your Water is Safe to Drink
Our top priority is ensuring the water we are serving to our customers is safe, reliable and meets or surpasses all state and federal water-quality standards. Our water is treated and tested thousands of times each year in state-certified laboratories to ensure it is safe before it reaches your tap.
 
California has some of the most stringent PFAS water-quality standards in the nation. SCV Water follows those standards – which means the water you receive at your home meets or surpasses all of the state’s PFAS precautionary health-based guidelines.

Find our more about our recent water sampling.

Learn more about our water quality in our Water Quality Report.
What is PFAS and
How Did it Get in SCV Water's Supply?
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of man-made chemicals, including PFOA, PFOS and GenX, which is a chemical replacement for PFOA. For more than 70 years, PFAS have been manufactured and used in a variety of industries worldwide. These chemicals are prevalent in thousands of products we use every day, such as non-stick cookware, shampoo, food wrappers, firefighting foam, clothing, paints and cleaning products.

Like many communities throughout the nation, tiny amounts of PFAS are found in our water supply; water agencies, like SCV Water, did not put these chemicals into water, but over time they have entered our waterways through manufacturing, landfills and wastewater discharge. We are taking immediate steps to tackle and treat these substances through new strategies and proven treatment options.

New PFAS Water Treatment Facility Coming Soon
SCV Water has started work on its new PFAS treatment facility to ensure our water continues to meet all drinking water standards. This $5 million project for three agency wells next to the William S. Hart Baseball/ Softball League ballfields is an investment in our long-term water supply and will restore our use of a substantial portion of our groundwater – enough water for 5,000 families – that has been impacted due to PFAS chemicals. 

Meet Our PFAS Strike Team
SCV Water’s top priority is to ensure that our water meets or surpasses all of California’s PFAS monitoring guidelines. We take our water quality seriously and have developed a strike team of staff and outside experts to assess next steps and lead us through treatment and other strategies. From water quality to engineering and communications to legislative matters surrounding PFAS, we are working together to find solutions to sample for PFAS, communicate this info to our customers and treat for PFAS in our water. 
Legislation
In October, the National Toxicology Program released the draft report on Toxicology on PFOA. Of note, the report states that the actual risk to humans is beyond the scope of this assessment.

The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment is inviting the public to submit information for PFOA and PFOS that could assist in evaluating their health risks by January 15, 2020.
Media
PFAS are found throughout the world and SCV Water continuously monitors information on this issue.  The links provided here are to other websites owned by third parties, and the content is not within SCV Water control.

  • DuPont Faces “Dark Waters”. Dark Waters opened locally this weekend. It is a feature film based on events in West Virginia, where DuPont was found responsible for contaminating drinking water through leaking PFAS waste. It's important to note that these are at levels tens of thousands of times higher than in California.

Outside Agency Resources
For more information on PFAS, please visit our website:

SCV WATER
27234 Bouquet Canyon Rd
Santa Clarita, CA 91350
(661) 297-1600