Exhibit 31.2
Cerrtification of Chief Financial Officer

    CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

I, McClellan Harris III, Chief Financial Officer, certify that:

1)       I have reviewed the annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended
         December 31, 2003 (the "report") of American States Water Company and
         of Southern California Water Company (both referred to as "the
         Registrant");

2)       Based on my knowledge, the report does not contain any untrue statement
         of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make
         the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such
         statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered
         by the report;

3)       Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
         information included in the report, fairly present in all material
         respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows
         of the Registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in the report;

4)       The Registrant's other certifying officer and I are responsible for
         establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
         defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the
         Registrant and have:

         a)    designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
               disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
               supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
               Registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made
               known to us by others within those entities, particularly during
               the period in which the report was being prepared;

         b)    evaluated the effectiveness of the Registrant's disclosure
               controls and procedures and presented in the report our
               conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls
               and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by the report
               based on such evaluation; and

         c)    disclosed in the report any change in the Registrant's internal
               control over financial reporting that occurred during the
               Registrant's most fourth fiscal quarter that has materially
               affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the
               Registrant's internal control over financial reporting.

5)       The Registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based
         on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial
         reporting, to the Registrant's auditors and the audit committee of
         Registrant's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent
         function):

         a)    all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
               design or operation of internal control over financial reporting
               which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the Registrant's
               ability to record, process, summarize and report financial
               information; and

         b)    any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
               other employees who have a significant role in the Registrant's
               internal controls over financial reporting.

Dated: April 27, 2004             By:     /s/ McCLELLAN HARRIS III
                                          -------------------------------------
                                          McClellan Harris III
                                          Chief Financial Officer, Senior
                                          Vice President-Finance, and
                                          Corporate Secretary