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1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background
Representatives of NCWD and CLWA began meeting in 2015 with the purpose of finding
common ground to settle litigation between the two agencies. As those talks evolved,
leaders from both sides saw merit in discussing the possibility of combining the two
agencies into a new, single agency. The two agencies established the following guiding
principles for their discussions:

• Take a leadership role in creating a long-term integrated water resource
strategy for the Santa Clarita Valley.

• Value an inclusive, open and transparent public process for water resource
management.

• Make ratepayer value and multiple stakeholder benefits a priority.

• Listen to each other and work collaboratively; seek to understand opinions,
especially opposing points of view.

• Identify and prioritize issues, which are important and worthy to address first.

These principles steered the process as the two agencies explored the possibility of
creating a new, single agency to better serve the Santa Clarita Valley’s water customers.
NCWD and CLWA recognized that the concept of a new agency required extensive public
engagement. The districts launched what has become among the Santa Clarita Valley’s
most robust, local government-led outreach processes to inform customers, seek
guidance and priorities, and then incorporate feedback into the planning process. The
public engagement process is described in detail in Section 1.3.

The commitment to the principles above and the thorough public engagement process
ultimately provided the foundation upon which SB 634 was built.

1.2 Senate Bill 634

On January 1, 2018, SB 634, called the Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency Act (Act),
went into effect and created a new special water district called the Santa Clarita Valley
Water Agency (SCV Water). Appendix A of this Plan should be referenced for a complete
copy of SB 634. A central purpose of SB 634 was to create a new agency that can
capitalize on economies of scale and reduce costs of operations, maintenance and capital
investment, while enhancing integrated resource management, thereby saving customers
money while at the same time improving service delivery. Legislation was required to
create SCV Water because CLWA was a special act agency, created by statute (Water
Code Appendix chapter 103).

The Act reorganized CLWA and NCWD into SCV Water with SCV Water as the successor
entity to both CLWA and NCWD. As articulated in the Act, the purpose of SCV Water is
to unify and modernize water resource management within the SCV through the efficient,

SCV Water Plan for Services Page 4