WATER MEET SET FOR SIMI NO WORD ON OFFER OF BIG LOCAL VENUE.

Byline: PATRICIA FARRELL AIDEM Staff writer

SANTA CLARITA -- The Regional Water Quality Board, considering tightening limits on salt in water discharged from the Santa Clarita Valley -- and treatment upgrades that would cost taxpayers an additional $400 a year -- has moved a planned local hearing on the issue to Simi Valley.

So far, officials with the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Board have ignored requests from the city to hold the July 13 hearing locally, as originally planned, Ken Striplin, Santa Clarita's assistant city manager, said Thursday.

``We had a commitment that the meeting was going to be held here, then we got a notice that they felt our venue wasn't big enough,'' Striplin said.

Santa Clarita's City Council chambers hold 150 while Simi Valley's has 183 seats. Thirty miles separate the two.

Striplin said a water board official explained the venue was changed because another item on the meeting's agenda might draw a larger-than-anticipated crowd.

Ronji Harris, an assistant to the water board's executive officer, John Bishop, refused a request Thursday for a copy of a draft of the board's July 13 agenda. Draft copies are considered public record, even though the document might change before the final form is released.

``We have a municipal storm water permit'' for a ``variety of cities,'' she said when asked for top items to be discussed.

Regardless, Santa Clarita reserved Hart High School's 800-plus-seat auditorium to allow for a larger crowd, but has still gotten no response from the water board.

``For us, it makes sense for residents to come and participate and not expect to drive to Simi Valley,'' Striplin said.

Bishop was out of the office Thursday and could not be reached for comment. Spokesman Steven Cain and Sam Unger, who is dealing with the chloride issue for the water board, did not return calls. The regional board is one of nine statewide and covers water quality issues in the greater Los Angeles area.

The chloride issue is an important one to residents who stand to see their sewage rates on property tax bills quadruple to fund desalination plants at the Santa Clarita Valley's two treatment plants.

Chloride in the treated water flows into the Santa Clara River, which is used to irrigate crops in Ventura County. Some farmers are concerned because chlorides -- salts that come from a variety of sources including household water softeners -- can damage crops.

The water board wants to set a maximum level of 100 milligrams of chloride per liter, a rate local sanitation districts officials say is unreasonable compared with similar situations statewide. A solution is a $300 million desalination system with a 45-mile-long pipeline from the Santa Clarita Valley to the ocean to consistently meet the 100 mg limit.