[CLWA] – The Castaic Lake Water Agency has been awarded a $16.7 million state grant that will fund three drought relief projects to help the Agency continue achieving its mission of providing reliable, quality water at a reasonable cost and the region meet the objectives of the Upper Santa Clara River Integrated Regional Water Management Plan.

“This grant will provide the double benefit of improving our access to ‘banked’ water supplies that we have stored from previous years, as well as reducing the chlorides in water discharged by the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District into the Santa Clara River,” said CLWA General Manager Dan Masnada.

> READ RELATED STORY

The Integrated Regional Water Management Plan grant, allocated by the state Department of Water Resources, is funded by Proposition 84, the Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act approved by the state’s voters in 2006. In all, $221 million in Proposition 84 grants were issued statewide in this round of awards.

The $16.7 million grant will be divided among three projects:

* A $4.6 million improvement to facilities that provide access to the Agency’s stored water in the Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District in Kern County.

* A $6.3 million improvement to improve Agency’s access to water stored in the Semitropic Water Storage District in Kern County.

* A $5 million contribution toward the installation by the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District of ultraviolet disinfection equipment at the Valencia Water Reclamation Plant. This is expected to cover approximately 25 percent of the project’s total cost.

The grant also allocated about $800,000 for administration expenses.

The Semitropic and Rosedale-Rio Bravo projects include facilities and equipment such as wells and transmission pipelines that will improve the Agency’s ability to withdraw water from the two water storage programs, and increase the capacity for withdrawal of water in dry years. In Rosedale-Rio Bravo, that new capacity will add approximately 7,500 acre-feet per year to the existing 5,000 acre-feet per year capacity. (An acre-foot is enough water to cover an acre of land 1 foot deep.)

“In collaboration with the local water retailers, we’re always striving to maintain a diverse water supply portfolio for the Santa Clarita Valley, and these improvements to our water banking program will give us valuable flexibility in future years,” Masnada said.

The ultraviolet disinfection system at the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District’s reclamation plant will enable the plant to stop using chlorine to disinfect the water that is discharged into the Santa Clara River, thus helping to reduce chloride levels that have concerned downstream agricultural interests who say the chlorides are harmful to crops.

“We’re very pleased to receive such a significant IRWMP grant, and these funds will go a long way toward addressing two significant issues that face the Santa Clarita Valley,” Masnada said. “It helps the Sanitation District in its efforts to address the chloride issue, and it will significantly improve our water supply reliability in future dry years by improving our access to banked water. And, as we’ve experienced in the current drought, we all know how important that can be.”

About the Castaic Lake Water Agency

The Castaic Lake Water Agency (CLWA) is the Santa Clarita Valley’s public water wholesaler. CLWA is one of 29 State Water Project contractors and receives water imported from northern California and Kern County through the California Aqueduct. CLWA operates three large treatment plants, three major pump stations, three water storage facilities and over 45 miles of large diameter transmission pipelines delivering water to four local water retailers. Our mission is to provide reliable, quality water at a reasonable cost to the Santa Clarita Valley. www.clwa.org