CLWA'S WATER PLAN DRAWS FIRE CRITICS DECRY SHORT PUBLIC REVIEW PERIOD.

Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - Residents will have just two weeks to review the Castaic Lake Water Agency's first-ever comprehensive analysis of the Santa Clarita Valley's water supply before it is submitted to the state.

A draft of the agency's Urban Water Management Plan, which will be used to determine growth over the next five years, will be available Nov. 22, then finalized and submitted to the state Department of Water Resources by the Dec. 31 deadline.

Officials say they need until mid-November to compile the data and draft the report. They have until the end of the year to accept public comments, make any revision and create the final report by the deadline.

The time line has drawn the ire of Michael Kotch, a CLWA director, and Lynne Plambeck, a director of the Newhall County Water District, who said the public needs more time to review the plan, which seeks to project water supply and demand through 2020.

``It's very discouraging that this project is getting started so late,'' Plambeck said, criticizing the agency's plan to release a draft of the plan just before Thanksgiving and vote on the final version just before Christmas. ``It's extremely unfair because it is an issue of the utmost importance in this valley.''

Kotch and Plambeck are members of the board of the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment, which has often challenged CLWA officials' claims about the water supply and the agency's policies.

The timetable will allow the agencies to meet the state's Dec. 31 deadline, said CLWA General Manager Robert Sagehorn. There are no sanctions for failing to meet that deadline, state officials said.

``A time extension would lead to a better plan,'' Kotch said.

Preliminary meetings were held on the plan in August, said Glenn M. Reiter, the consultant coordinating the creation of the plan, but work did not begin in earnest until seven weeks ago.

William Cooper, president of the CLWA Board of Directors, said the board would consider pushing back the vote if there was a ``great deal'' of interest from the public.

``We'd like the opportunity to have more time,'' Cooper said. ``But we'd also like to meet that deadline.''

If no plan is submitted, the agency would not be eligible to draw from state-controlled water banks in the event of a drought.

The CLWA is working with the Newhall County Water District, the Valencia Water Co. and L.A. County Waterworks No. 26 - the valley's water retailers - to compile the plan, which will be created using existing data. The CLWA owns and operates the Santa Clarita Water Co., another water retailer.

The combined effort will streamline the process and save taxpayer and ratepayer money, Cooper said. All of the agencies are sharing the cost of consultants creating the plan, rather than hiring their own.

``We're all in this valley together,'' Cooper said. ``What affects the Newhall County Water District affects the Santa Clarita Water Co. as well as Valencia Water Co. It's just a good way to do business.''

The agency has hired two consultants to create the plan using existing planning data that the agency compiles throughout the year, Sagehorn said.

``The plan will outline how we will achieve reliability as the State Water Project is more heavily relied on and how groundwater is used to supplement it,'' Sagehorn said.