COUNTYWIDE : Final Hearing on Water Measure

Culminating four years of work, a local water agency held the final public hearing Friday on an ordinance designed to reduce excessive pumping of ground water.

The measure, proposed by the Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency, would reduce the extraction of ground water by 5% beginning in 1992.

Cutbacks would reach 75% by the year 2009 for the agency, which manages water resources contributing to the supply of water for more than 100,000 Ventura County residents.

The restrictions, if passed, would affect the cities of Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Ventura, Camarillo and Moorpark, as well as small water companies, farms and ranches.

Agriculture would bear the brunt of the cutbacks, Fox Canyon Senior Hydrologist John Turner said Friday.

Well owners would become more dependent on outside water sources or be forced to cut their use, said John Crowley, coordinator of the Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency. Having to buy more imported water would probably mean higher rates, Crowley said.

And should the drought persist, enough imported water may not be available, forcing cities to impose rationing, as the city of Ventura has recently, Crowley said.

John Flynn, 5th District Supervisor and Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency board member, said he is confident that the ordinance will be approved.

“It has been scrutinized closely,” Flynn said.

The proposed ordinance has gone through 12 drafts and has been the subject of about 30 committee meetings at which well users, including farmers, city governments and residents, were consulted.

Although it has gone through substantial revisions, Flynn told the board meeting audience that the ordinance would likely be voted on without further amendments.

Specialists are concerned that removing too much water will allow saltwater to intrude in the water supply, which could render the natural underground water supply useless.

A report on ground water pumping in southwest Ventura County presented Friday showed that nearly half of the 150,000 acre-feet of water extracted in the year ending last June will not be replenished.

The overdraft, described as “massive” and a record for the agency, was largely the result of low rainfall, according to the report.

No date has been set for a vote on the measure.