Conservation plans to augment the Santa Clarita Valley water supply with recycled water are not affected by Monday’s decision by SCV sewage treatment officials to scuttle their recycled water project.
On Monday, SCV Sanitation District officials announced they would not be pursuing recycled-water plans and, specifically, would not be preparing the environmental studies needed to make them happen.
The plan, now scuttled, would have seen SCV Sanitation District officials providing some of the water they treat and discharge into the Santa Clara River watershed to agencies pursuing recycled-water projects, such as the SCV Water Agency.
The water earmarked for delivery to the SCV Water Agency would have been icing on the cake for local water officials who never included that water in their Recycled Water Master Plan.
“We’re not losing anything,” Kathie Martin, spokeswoman for SCV Water, said Wednesday.
At the moment, the Sanitation District supplies a small percentage of its treated water to SCV Water’s recycle program to water The Oaks Club of Valencia golf course.
The district’s plan to send more treated water to the SCV Water recycling program was what was scuttled Monday.
“They’re not going to do it now, so we get (the) same amount we’ve been getting,” Martin said.
Lead agency
With several recycled water pipeline projects underway, SCV Water continues to take the lead in efforts to conserve water, with the goal of increasing the use of recycled water for irrigation.
“It makes sense for SCV Water — the unified voice for water policy issues in the region — to take the lead on this effort,” said Matt Stone, general manager of SCV Water.
“We are committed to increasing the use of recycled water as part of our community’s supply.
“While the challenges of permitting and environmental review are significant, we believe it is not only possible, but imperative, that we work to find the right balance to increase our recycled-water supply and meet environmental requirements for our river,” Stone said.
Recycles water pipelines
According to the master plan already in place, a corridor of parks along Newhall Ranch Road through Valencia and into Saugus are to be watered with recycled water.
Also receiving recycled water under the grand plan would be several Valencia businesses in the industrial park along Rye Canyon Road to Newhall Ranch Road.
From there, recycled water would find its way into Valencia, beginning with installation of a
a 2-foot-wide pipeline from the Valencia Water Reclamation Plant on The Old Road near Six Flags Magic Mountain.
The purple pipe would then stretch more than five miles along Rye Canyon Road to Newhall Ranch Road, watering the green space fronting businesses along the way.
Valencia High School would also stay green thanks to recycled water supplied by Phase 2A of the SCV Water Agency’s plan.
Purple pipe
Once the purple pipe finds its way along Newhall Ranch to Bouquet Canyon Road it can take one of two directions toward its final destination at Central Park — either north on Bouquet, or east along Newhall Ranch to the River Village housing development.
The Phase 2A pipeline, also referred to as the Central Park Recycled Water Main Extension, was created to offset “nonpotable irrigation and residential demands from domestic water to recycled water.”
In other words, to water parks with recycled water instead of drinking water.
The second part of Phase 2 — or Phase 2B — calls for recycled water being brought to SCV’s East End through the planned Vista Canyon project in Canyon Country, which involves the “Water Factory” — Santa Clarita’s first large-scale water recycling project.
Vista Canyon
“Vista Canyon is almost done,” said Carrie Lujan, spokeswoman for the city of Santa Clarita.
Monday’s decision by the Sanitation District is not expected to affect it.
Rounding out the Water Agency’s recycle plans, Phase 2C — called the Recycled Water South End Project — would bring recycled water to College of the Canyons, the California Institute of the Arts, Placerita Junior High School, Hart High School and Newhall Elementary School.
It involves laying more than 4 miles of purple pipe from The Old Road at Valencia Boulevard, across Interstate 5 to Rockwell Canyon Road, and the COC campus.
From that point, the purple pipe is expected to cut through old parts of Valencia to CalArts, down Tournament Road to Orchard Village Road, and into Newhall, making its way to Dalbey Drive and Newhall Avenue.
The 4.4 miles of brand new pipe will end at Newhall Avenue and 13th Street, near Newhall Park, where it’s expected to water the park and the landscaping areas of the two schools near it — Placerita and Hart.
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