A construction contract is anticipated to be awarded by the Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency board of directors in early 2024 for the construction of a pipeline that would provide LARC Ranch residents with a permanent water supply, according to SCV Water officials.
“The design phase is nearing completion and bid documents are being prepared,” wrote Kevin Strauss, communications manager for SCV Water.
LARC and other Bouquet Canyon residents’ water stopped being regularly released from the Bouquet Reservoir nearly a decade ago, reducing their well water supply to a trickle over concerns of road flooding.
“LARC has been around since 1959, and we had a wonderful reservoir working for us for years and years until it went dry,” said Kathleen Sturkey, executive director of LARC Ranch, a nonprofit that provides programs, services and residential facilities for developmentally disabled adults.
Since then, LARC began trucking the 11,000 gallons of water needed to support the 65-acre ranch and its residents every month, at a cost of thousands of dollars per month, according to Sturkey.
Ten years ago, Sturkey announced that the ranch would be looking to build a permanent water supply, working with the local water agency to construct a pipeline that would connect the ranch to the public water system. At the time, the new line was pursued through the Castaic Lake Water Agency, a predecessor agency of SCV Water.
SCV Water in 2021 was informed it was eligible to receive up to $1.1 million in incentive funding, along with up to $10 million in 0% interest rate financing. The pipeline is set to extend 1.75 miles along Bouquet Canyon Road to LARC and the Lily of the Valley Mobile Village, from Shadow Valley Lane to the LARC turnout road.
SCV Water is set to size the pipe to 12 inches to allow developed areas, including ranches, residential and businesses, located along the pipeline to connect to it.
Anyone wanting to connect would be required to pay for the physical connection and the appropriate connection fees, according to SCV Water officials.
If the construction contract is awarded in early 2024, construction would be set to follow soon after.
