WATER OFFICIALS SAY OPPONENTS ALL WET; NEWHALL BOARD'S PLAMBECK INSISTS BALLOT STATEMENTS `JUST NOT TRUE'.

Byline: Teresa Jimenez Daily News Staff Writer

Newhall County Water District board member Lynne Plambeck said she and two other members up for re-election in November will seek other avenues to fight what they say are false ballot statements filed by their opponents.

Plambeck, Edwin Dunn and David Rapoport took the matter to Los Angeles Superior Court last week but were told their petition did not meet the deadline required by the election code, Plambeck said.

The board members are protesting the candidate statements submitted by Tom Campbell, Barbara Dore and Val Thomas to the Los Angeles County registrar because they make accusations that the Newhall district's water rates are higher than in other area districts and that the water is of the lowest quality, Plambeck said.

Plambeck said she also was concerned about statements that wells in the Newhall district are contaminated. She wants residents to know they can trust their water supply.

``We're required to do tests monthly, and other tests quarterly,'' she said. ``We're very concerned that they would use it as a campaign statement, and it's just not true. We think it's important for people to know there's nothing wrong with their water.''

But Thomas said her statement that ``the current board has failed to safeguard our water supply, as shown in the recent contamination of district wells'' is true and that board members have acknowledged problems with the wells.

``By the board's own admission, contaminants are being found in the wells,'' she said. ``I'm glad this is going to be put before voters in an open forum.''

Plambeck said there's an explanation. After a contaminant called perchlorate was found in a Sacramento-area well located where jet fuel used to be produced, the state decided this year to test wells around the state in areas where the fuel was produced, she said.

One - not all - of the district's wells was found to have contamination, Plambeck said. And a second test taken after the well, which had been sitting unused, was flushed showed that the water met state requirements, she said.

``This is not anything that anybody could have anticipated,'' Plambeck said. ``The well isn't contaminated. If it were, they wouldn't let us use it.''

Thomas' statement also says, ``Newhall County Water District customers pay considerably more than anyone else in the Santa Clarita Valley - and receive lower-quality water.''

``When you take a look at all the rates with all the components, it is the highest in the Santa Clarita Valley,'' Thomas said. ``I'll definitely stand by that.''

Plambeck insisted, however, that the Newhall district has compared its rates with those of other districts on numerous occasions and has not found its water to be the most expensive.