News release
Gary Martin has announced his candidacy for reelection for Division 1 of the Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency board of directors in the November election.
Martin is currently serving as a Division 1 director and the board president for SCV Water. He previously served on the board of SCV Water’s predecessor agency, the Castaic Lake Water Agency, from February 2013 through December 2017. On Jan. 1, 2018, CLWA and Newhall County Water District transitioned into SCV Water.
Martin continued as a Division 1 director and was reelected in November 2020.
His “service to the SCV as a water board director and his 44-year civil engineering career focusing extensively on water system engineering management has provided him with the knowledge and experience to continue his effectiveness as a Division 1 director,” said a news release from his campaign.
In addition to his position as SCV Water director and president, Martin serves as a board director for the SCV Groundwater Sustainability Agency, the Association of California Water Agencies Joint Power Insurance Authority, the Delta Conveyance Design and Construction Authority, and the Urban Water Institute.
Prior to his retirement from professional engineering in 2015, Martin held the position of director of engineering at the Mojave Water Agency, a California State Water Project contractor with a service area of 4,900 square miles in the high desert of San Bernardino County.
During his 19-plus years at the MWA, he was responsible for design and construction of large-scale water system capital improvement projects, including pipelines, reservoirs, booster pump stations, wells and groundwater recharge facilities. Prior to his employment at MWA, he had a 24-year career in the private engineering and construction industry working on heavy industrial and water conveyance projects. Twenty of those years were spent with the Bechtel Corp., where he ultimately reached the level of chief civil/structural engineer for the Los Angeles Regional Office.
“It has been my distinct honor to serve the SCV as a water board director over the past years,” Martin said in the release. “My priority going forward will continue to be achieving SCV Water’s mission of providing responsible water stewardship to ensure the Santa Clarita Valley has reliable supplies of high-quality water at a reasonable cost. To accomplish this, we must take the necessary steps to maintain our diverse water supply portfolio, to insure the reliability of our local water treatment and distribution infrastructure network, and to monitor and maintain the quality of our local groundwater supplies. It will also be important to continue advocating for water conservation in this time of climate variability.”
Martin earned a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from the University of Maryland and a master of science degree in structural engineering from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He holds professional registrations from the state of California in both civil engineering and structural engineering. He is a life member of The American Society of Civil Engineers.
Martin and his wife Phyllis have called Santa Clarita their home since 1978. They have two adult children and four grandchildren.
