It’s been a good year, waterwise — and it’s been a good water-wise year, too.

From the nuts-and-bolts issues, such as a major water-treatment plant expansion, to the big-picture planning efforts of the
Urban Water Management Plan, 2011 has been an outstanding year for Castaic Lake Water Agency. As we do each year, today we take the opportunity at year’s end to reflect on the accomplishments of the past year. And, in Part 2 of this commentary, we’ll take a look at the challenges that lie ahead in 2012.

As 2011 draws to a close, the Santa Clarita Valley water supply outlook remains bright, thanks in part to Mother Nature and also to CLWA’s successful water-supply planning efforts. Here are a few highlights of events in 2011 that contributed to our positive water outlook:

* CLWA completed a major facility upgrade in 2011 with the expansion of the Rio Vista Water Treatment Plant. The newly expanded facility now has more than double its previous capacity and can treat 66 million gallons per day. This, combined with the 56 mgd capacity of CLWA’s Earl Schmidt Filtration Plant, provides sufficient capacity to meet the SCV’s needs for the next 20 years. CLWA is especially pleased that the $39 million project came in on budget, with change orders of less than 5 percent.

* During the past year, CLWA, in cooperation with the SCV’s four water retailers, successfully completed the 2010 Urban
Water Management Plan, a state-mandated master planning document that looks ahead at the SCV’s future water supply needs and availability through the year 2050. It is a valuable tool for CLWA’s team as we strive to continuously meet future demand, or better yet, stay ahead of it.

* Advance planning efforts, such as those facilitated by the UWMP, obviously must anticipate wildcards, and Mother Nature is the wildest of them all. In some years, she can be a cruel mistress, leaving water agencies up and down the state scrambling for sources of supply. However, in 2011 she was kind to us, as we had an excellent water year.

At CLWA, we are proud of the steps we have taken to store water in good years to help us get through dry ones. Thanks to these steps, coupled with a wet winter in 2011, we have filled our water banks, such as the one we maintain in the Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District. This, in combination with our other water banking and management programs, gives us a backup supply approximately equal to 4 1/2 years’ worth of the SCV’s imported water needs.

* In 2011, CLWA, in cooperation with several other agencies, was awarded state Proposition 84 grants totaling $7.2 million to fund local water improvement projects. The grants include a $266,250 planning grant and a $6.9 million implementation grant for four local water projects. The largest of those will be the SCV South End Recycled Water Project.

The Proposition 84 grant will cover $4.76 million of the project’s estimated $13 million cost, making recycled water available for irrigation use on large landscaped areas along Rockwell Canyon Road and Orchard Village Road.

* During 2011, CLWA offered several programs to help individuals and large water customers use water more efficiently, including the distribution of more than 500 weather-based irrigation controllers, more than 1,500 rebates for high-efficiency toilets and rebates of up to $21,000 for more than a dozen homeowners associations that implemented water-saving measures. All of these efforts are designed to help the SCV meet the state-mandated goal of reducing per capita water use by 20 percent by the year 2020.

* We strive at CLWA to be positive stewards of our environment, and not just in the obvious ways one would associate with a water agency.

For example, as 2011 comes to an end we have begun to utilize solar energy at CLWA facilities. Through a long-term agreement with SunPower Corp., a 3.5-acre array of solar panels has been installed on CLWA property adjacent to the Rio Vista Water Treatment Plant. This state-of-the-art solar facility is expected to generate sufficient electricity annually to meet the needs of the RVWTP and CLWA’s headquarters over the next 20 years. The new solar facility is not only environmentally friendly, but also cost-efficient, and is expected to reduce CLWA’s energy costs significantly in the coming years.

* Also on the environmental front, CLWA’s treatment facilities for perchlorate-contaminated groundwater emanating from the Whittaker-Bermite site have been on line for more than a year – the first year of a decades-long operation that is a critical element of the overall program to address the single greatest environmental challenge our valley has ever faced.

* In addition to serving as the SCV’s wholesaler of water from the State Water Project, CLWA also owns one of the valley’s four water retailers, the Santa Clarita Water Division. In keeping with our ongoing efforts to effectively plan for the future of both the wholesale and retail operations, in 2011, we were proud to complete the new headquarters for SCWD.

The new 13,000-square-foot facility, in the Centre Pointe commercial development, meets the SCWD’s growing space needs, and utilizes state-of-the-art construction techniques and energy-efficient equipment to help SCWD operate more efficiently.

* Fiscally, 2011 has been superb for CLWA. Among the agency’s achievements in the budgeting and finance areas: CLWA and SCWD were able to earn a strong bond rating for SCWD, which will assist in financing of future capital improvement projects; we formed a joint powers authority along with the Devil’s Den Water District to raise capital for SCV water projects utilizing bonds with more favorable interest rates; and, in February, CLWA won its fifth consecutive Budget Presentation Award from the government Finance Officers Association, in recognition of CLWA’s exceptionally prepared budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

Has CLWA been busy? You bet. CLWA and its professional staff were very busy in 2011, and we’re proud of the agency’s accomplishments, as we strive to use resources wisely and to ensure that the SCV has a safe, reliable supply of potable water now and in the decades ahead.

And, 2012 stands to keep us pretty busy, too. More on that in Part 2.

Tom Campbell is the president of the Castaic Lake Water Agency board of directors.