KEEPING IT FLOWING; HEAT GENERATES POWER-USE CONCERNS.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

As the Santa Clarita Valley endured another sun-baked, triple-digit day, some of the region's biggest users of electrical power coped with the heat as best they could.

At Magic Mountain, park visitors gravitated toward the water rides like Roaring Rapids and Tidal Wave, while park employees dressed as Looney Tunes characters spent shorter shifts in the hot costumes, said Six Flags spokesman Andy Gallardo.

And Hurricane Harbor, the water slide attraction next door to the amusement park, ``is a very popular place right now,'' Gallardo said.

Those who didn't want to spend a whole day in a swimsuit improvised a bit. ``We have that bridge over Tidal Wave where you can stand and get wet,'' Gallardo said. ``People will stand on that bridge for three or four splashes.''

Meanwhile, authorities were trying to keep the inmates at the Peter Pitchess Detention Center calm and cool.

``We have to keep the air conditioning going at all times. With 10,000 inmates, if we had conditions of intolerable heat, tensions would rise,'' said Cmdr. Larry Waldie, who supervises the entire jail complex and its 3,000 employees.

Inmates have been taking early morning recreation periods outdoors to avoid the heat of the day. ``One of our great fears that we have here in the summertime is that the air conditioning or the electricity would go out,'' the commander said.

Sometimes, a simple idea goes a long way to helping everyone cope with the heat. ``We'll take ice cream and give it to all the dorms. That cools them down and makes them happy,'' Waldie said. ``Or we'll go out and buy some videos and put them on the extra TV. Whatever it takes to keep that calming influence.''

On Monday, Southern California Edison asked College of the Canyons to shut down for the afternoon and evening to curb power usage. On an average summer day, the campus uses about 16.5 megawatts of electricity, said Jim Schrage, director of facilities planning and usage.

The cancellation of classes began at 4 p.m. Monday, affecting about 2,600 students enrolled in 114 classes, said College of the Canyons spokesman John McElwain.

Edison asked many of its large customers to scale back their usage ``due to high demand on the whole system,'' said Edison spokesman Steve Hansen. The utility has 4.2 million customers in its 50,000-square-mile service area.

The program, in effect since 1978, applies to Edison's largest customers, College of the Canyons included.

``We've only had to invoke this a handful of times since the program began,'' Hansen said. ``We have about 1,600 customers who are on that rate, and they represent 2,000 megawatts of load. That would be enough, under normal circumstances, to energize 2 million households.''

Monday, Edison customers used a record amount of power - 19,935 megawatts systemwide, Hansen said.

Tuesday, the local temperature topped out at a sizzling 104, with a balmy overnight low of 77. More of the same is expected today, with the mercury expected to shoot up to 103.

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PHOTO (Color) Steven Leard, left, and his son Joshua, 15, spend a hot Tuesday afternoon on the water, fishing from float tubes at Castaic Lake.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News