In Defense of Castaic Lake Water Agency

* The Castaic Lake Water Agency was recently the subject of a Times article (“Castaic Water Treatment Plant Draws Criticism,” Sept. 10) critical of the agency’s financial management. When many public agencies are struggling financially, CWLA has remained financially strong while building a state-of-the-art treatment plant offering numerous economies and assurances for a safe, reliable water supply. CLWA has maintained one of the lowest wholesale water rates in Southern California for more than a decade and has continued to decrease taxes. This is a record that would be impossible to maintain if funds were not prudently managed.

CLWA’s new Rio Vista Water Treatment Plant was designed and constructed in a manner that saves taxpayers and ratepayers millions of dollars. The people interviewed for the article had no knowledge that the initial project estimate reported by The Times, as the budget was a 5-year-old estimate provided for the purpose of securing bonds. It was before construction bids, land purchase and plant engineering design; therefore it could not possibly have been the final budget figure. CLWA incurred no cost overruns as reported by The Times.

No effort was made by The Times to include comments regarding CLWA from knowledgeable local citizens, non-special interest activists and business leaders. Documented CLWA facts were curiously left out of the article. The people interviewed for the article are employees of the city of Santa Clarita, whom the agency is suing over a $1.2-billion, overblown redevelopment project that will cause taxes and rates to skyrocket, a special-interest activist who has long strived to block growth by obstructing water reliability, and two unrelated water industry representatives who have no knowledge of CLWA’S operations.

As an elected board member, I am pleased that our board’s efforts have resulted in a safe, reliable water supply, with more than 130 acres of community buffer land on our new site for a much-needed community park and sports complex.

WILLIAM C. COOPER

Santa Clarita

Cooper is president of the CLWA board of directors