Oxnard Weighs Expanded Water Storage Effort

Faced with possible cutbacks by the city’s major water supplier, Oxnard officials today are scheduled to consider expansion of an experimental water-saving project.

Begun last year, the project allows the city to buy excess water at a bargain rate from the Metropolitan Water District during winter months when demand is low. The water is pumped into the ground, then taken out during the summer as the city needs it.

“We don’t have the same problem everybody else does,” Oxnard Public Works Director Jim Frandsen said. “We’ve got three sources of water and now this storage program.”

The city draws one-third of its water from city wells and the United Water Conservation District.

But two-thirds of its water comes from the Metropolitan Water District, which passed a resolution last week calling for cutbacks to the cities and water agencies it serves.

The state drought, now entering its fourth year, has depleted the Colorado River and the Northern California rivers that supply the MWD with water.

In Ventura County, the MWD’s largest customer is the Calleguas Water District, which supplies cities such as Oxnard in the eastern county.

Because of the storage program, though, Oxnard may be able to make it through the summer without any water-use restrictions regardless of any MWD reductions, Frandsen said. However, the city still will work on developing an emergency water conservation ordinance, as MWD officials requested of customers.

The city, which began the program in October, has 1,700 acre feet of water stored, or 544 million gallons. It should be able to recover 90% of the water, which will retain the same quality, when it is pumped out of the ground, officials said.

The lower cost of the water has allowed the city to save about $37,380. Oxnard pumps water into the ground from October through April, then removes it from May through September.

Today, the city is expected to decide whether to expand the program from two wells to four. The project would cost $240,000, although the council is expected only to approve funding the first well today.

Once both wells are operational, the city could store 5,950 acre feet of water and reap an estimated annual savings of $305,830 because of the lower winter prices.

To speed up the expansion process, Frandsen has recommended that the council waive the competitive bidding process and select Midway Drilling and Pump Company to install the first shallow well at a cost of about $120,000.

This well would be operational in September, 1990, and the fourth one a year later. Once all four are in use, the city would be able to store 3 1/2 times the water it now stores with two wells.