State Water Project

Los Angeles County supervisors approved an agreement Tuesday that allows Santa Clarita Valley water agencies with ample ground-water reserves to sell water to other agencies in the area. The agreement will enable two water companies with ground water to spare--Valencia Water Co. and the Newhall Water District--to sell to the Santa Clarita Water Co., which needs additional water, and the County Waterworks District in Val Verde, which has no wells.

The California Department of Water Resources plans to reopen popular Pyramid Lake after a 45-day closure for sediment removal. The state said Wednesday that the lake 60 miles north of downtown Los Angeles will open again Saturday. During the closure, crews lowered the lake about 23 feet and removed 32,000 cubic yards of sediment that accumulated around a U.S. Forest Service dock over several decades. The lake and its dam were completed in 1973 as part of the State Water Project.

Californians are constantly told that the state Water Project is far from completed as envisioned when voters approved the massive water-transfer program back in 1960. True, but this does not mean that work on the project has come to a halt. Construction has been completed just this month on the $97.7-million, 24-mile-long North Bay Aqueduct that will carry water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to growing areas of Solano and Napa counties.

The focal point of California water fights is this old saw: The north has the water and the south takes it. But that is a simplistic notion that holds even less water today than it did just a month ago. There is the common belief that state Water Project supplies all flow directly to Kern County farmers and to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

Despite a return to normal snowpack and precipitation this winter, state officials said water shortages will continue this summer and urged continued conservation efforts. The Department of Water Resources on Thursday slightly increased allocations in the state system that helps supply urban Southern California. Managers said they might be able to raise projected deliveries again next month but warned that they expect the final numbers to be no more than last year -- about 40% of full allocation, which prompted rationing in many Southland cities, including Los Angeles.

Gov. Jerry Brown is about to make official what a winter of downpours and rising reservoir levels have already made obvious: California's drought is over. Brown is expected to lift the state's 3-year-old drought declaration Wednesday, when the next snow survey is conducted. In a statement released Monday, the governor's office said it "is waiting for the season's final snow survey later this week to officially rescind the previous administration's drought declaration. While this season's surplus of rain and strong snowpack has clearly ended the dry spell for now, it is critical that Californians continue to conserve water.

An engineering report released Wednesday reinforces earlier studies concluding that the most economical way to increase Ventura water supplies is to hook up with the state water project at Castaic Lake. According to a report by Boyle Engineering Corp., it would cost the city about $62.8 million to join Casitas Municipal Water District and United Water Conservation District in building a pipeline to the lake. By comparison, it would cost the city $61.

State prison authorities on Wednesday said they might reconsider their controversial decision to drill wells to supply water to a proposed 2,200-bed prison in Lancaster. Craig Brown, undersecretary of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, told several dozen Antelope Valley municipal officials and civic leaders that he is "open to working this out" with them.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved an agreement Tuesday to allow the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho, the county jail facility in Castaic, to receive water from the State Water Project. In recent years, the jail plumbing system has labored to handle well water that has become increasingly gritty, according to a Public Works Department report.