Chapter 3: Sustainability

Water:

Santa Clarita does a very good job at providing and maintaining water for its community.  The main suppliers of water are Alluvium and Saugus Aquifers (supplies about half of SCVs water) and the Castaic Lake Water Agency (supplies about the other half).  For residents and businesses in SCV, four different independent companies work to extract, pump, store, treat, blend, and supply water for the Santa Clarita Valley.

These companies are La County Water Works 36, Santa Clarita Water Division, and Valencia Water Company, and Newhall County Water District.  The valley is also responsible for helping pump water through the California Aqueduct that is over 700 miles long.

The city offers a number of programs to help reduce water usage, to promote efficient use of water, and to help minimize water pollution.

Wind Energy:

Currently, there are only a few Wind Turbine companies within the Santa Clarita division of the Los Angeles County. 

Steps are being made to begin development and the integration of this renewable type of energy, but as of now, SCV does not use wind energy.

Solar Energy:

Santa Clarita is really pushing for the integration and implementation of Solar Energy throughout the city.   There are 10 different companies working within the city that can all be found here:

http://greensantaclarita.com/green-store/local-solar-retailers-and-installers/

Solar energy usage would be very beneficial in Santa Clarita because it averages more sun every day than the average throughout the United States of America.  Schools and businesses throughout the valley are now implementing solar panels to act as shade for their parking lots that both collect energy and cool down cars.

Geothermal Energy

Santa Clarita has not focused much of geothermal energy because they are currently weighing the costs with the benefits.  Recent meetings within the city have suggested it would be a great investment because the energy would both be clean and free, on the other hand, it is initially very expensive and can cost very large amounts of money to dig out land and lay down pipe.  Those to reasons alone typically discourage many from beginning the collection of geothermal energy.