Santa Clarita wells drying up, working at 50 percent capacity

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (KABC) -- Residents in the Santa Clarita Valley are feeling the effects of the drought.

Mauricio Guardado, retail manager of the Santa Clarita Water District, said the wells in the valley that normally pump hundreds of gallons of water per minute are nearly dry. One of those wells was shut down about six weeks ago.

"The ground water level is just too low, so if we had it on there is just nothing to produce," he said.

The shutdown of the well has put extra stress on the other wells to make up the water deficit, Guardado said. Currently, the water district has 13 wells working, but they're only pumping water at about 50 percent capacity.

Robert McDougal, operations superintendent for the water district, said that this has been the worst drought he's seen in his 40 years in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Even with water restrictions in place, the district is tapping into reserves to meet the demand for the important resource.

Some residents in the area say they are not just obeying the outdoor water restrictions, but they're doing even more to help conserve water such as taking shorter showers and doing laundry less frequently.

Water district officials also said ranchers in the area are feeling pinched by the drought. Guardado said some residents have their own private wells, but those wells are drying up.

"They're coming to us for water that they have to truck to their particular properties and fill their storage tanks," he said.

Guardado said the district has worked hard to put emergency plans in place for the tough drought.

"We've worked for many years and very hard to secure supplemental supplies - banking supplies - and have an operation plan for times like this," he said.

But beyond using the storage supplies to meet water demands, the district would have to dig deeper into the ground to find more water. Guardado said digging deeper would be costly for the district and its customers.