Santa Clarita Valley Parks Bureau displayed its new substation at Castaic Lake on Thursday. The Castaic Lake Substation will house the Marine Patrol Unit in charge of lake operations.

A tour of the new substation took place at Castaic Lake, along with words about the new technology from Steve Smith, Captain of Parks Bureau and Michael Antonovitch, Los Angeles County Board Supervisor.

“This is state of the art technology to ensure that people who use Castaic Lake will be safe and secure,” said Antonovitch.

The technology includes underwater cameras that divers can use to search the lake.

According to a member of the Los Angeles County sheriff’s department, the handheld cameras allow people to talk to the divers in real time, all while watching from the dock what the divers are seeing underwater.

Photo: LASD

Steve Smith explained the importance of lake safety.

“We try to find the best practices, and we literally went across the nation to find them,” he said. “The camera system is completely wireless, and it uses solar energy. This way, the system will generate electricity for the county.”

Los Angeles County sheriff Roger Wallace also spoke about the new safety precautions.

“The new solar-powered cameras consist of 9 cameras that cover 90% of the waterway,” said Wallace. “We’ve already made several citations for illegal alcohol on the lake. There is also a speaker system, so boats that are 14 miles out can hear you.”

“The whole system has an override capability,” Smith added, “so if there’s a problem, we can see what is going on right away.”

Some of the equipment used on the new safety system boat was taken from previous material to cut down on costs.

“Most of the equipment already existed and we just moved it over to the new boat,” said a member of the Sheriff’s Department.

The group hopes the new technology will be able to increase public safety as a whole at the lake.

– Taylor Villanueva