Countywide : Supervisors Seek Water Symposium

Ventura County supervisors have called a countywide symposium of cities and water districts in what Supervisor John K. Flynn said he hopes will be the first step toward a centralized county water authority.

Supervisors on Tuesday endorsed Flynn’s request to hold a symposium for water experts and representatives from many of the county’s 10 cities and 178 water districts as well as its farming and business interests.

“I want to arrive at an action plan to give all of the county a direction in its water policy for the next several years,” Flynn said.

No centralized agency now exists to set policy for water conservation and use in the county, Flynn said.

“The western end of the county is passing water rationing while the east end has a lifeline to the Delta through the aqueduct,” Flynn said of the San Joaquin and Sacramento river delta, the source of water that is shipped south by the state.

The symposium will probably be scheduled next month, Flynn said.

Forming a centralized water authority will not be simple in a county with so many districts and cities, Flynn said. Each district is managed by a board of directors and each city by its council. But those bodies have not sufficiently planned for future needs or the special problems brought on by the drought, which is entering its fourth year, Flynn said.