Optimized water plan, who says?

A better idea would be to get Valencia and Santa Clarita out from under CLWA and make them county water districts with their own boards.

Regarding the Aug. 16 column in The Signal “Optimized water governance means better water service,” I ask: Optimized governance … for whom?

The Castaic Lake Water Agency has long held a dream of monopoly control over Santa Clarita Valley water supplies. In the past, its public relations team called it “One Valley, One Water Supplier” as it pushed to take over local groundwater agencies.

Now you may notice a repetition of new words and phrases developed by expensive PR experts as you read the support pieces for this unworkable idea.

For starters, when you read an article that assumes there will just be one water agency, are you asking yourself who decided this? Maybe not.

That is a PR trick to make you think it is already a done deal and you have no say – just accept it. It’s subtle persuasion and you do have a say.

When you see the phrase “hodge-podge of water districts” used over and over again in articles and presentations, do you apply this same somewhat negative term to our local school districts, too?

After all, there are five of them, too. The effort to combine them several years ago was soundly defeated at the polls because the voters understood that their vote and control is more powerful in a smaller district.

Just ask yourself how in the world the 14-member Board of Directors proposed for the combined water district is going to give you any voice at all if this giant new agency is approved. A 14-member board will be totally unmanageable.

“Monopoly is a red herring — all water agencies are monopolies” is another phrase you will hear repeated over and over again.

But it is a pretty well-established fact that monopolies discourage efficiency and raise the cost of doing business. Bigger is not better, and never has been.

It results in higher rates for water users, as is already evident with the rate increases suffered by the two local water agencies that Castaic Lake Water Agency already took over — Valencia Water Co and Santa Clarita Water Division.

Just think of the huge Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and ask yourself if that is what you want here.

But let’s reply directly to some of the statements — like that 40 percent of the residents don’t have an elected representative.

Well, they are supposed to have one on the Castaic Lake Water Agency board. George Runner’s AB 553 developed positions for Valencia and Santa Clarita customers to elect someone to the CLWA board, but I guess it never worked very well, since CLWA now claims the voters have no one.

Why are the boundaries between districts out of whack? Because other water districts took over areas they were not supposed to serve.

Then, when a settlement was made in 2004 to straighten out hose boundaries, the Castaic Lake Water Agency never followed through — CLWA never made good on its end of the agreed trade. And now it is trying to use that against Newhall County Water District, just as it tried in 2004?

“Neighbors elect neighbors” — another PR catch phrase. Neighbors elect neighbors right now in both the Newhall County Water District and the Castaic Lake Water Agency.

A better idea would be to get Valencia and Santa Clarita out from under CLWA and make them county water districts with their own boards. Smaller government is more efficient and more responsive to the voter.

Castaic already has three divisions. This has not helped to get watchdogs on their board to rein in their out-of-control spending. A water monopoly will certainly not help, either.

The agency has now spent hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars on lawyers and PR firms to try to get rid of Newhall County Water District without anyone from the public requesting that action. In fact, the people I talk to like this well-run local district and don’t want it dissolved.

So what is really behind this push for control of our water supply? That is the question we should all be asking.