Plan Offers Water to Oil Companies

A controversial proposal to stretch water supplies in Lake Casitas would allow oil companies to keep using water to run their wells, while requiring all water district customers to cut 20% of their water usage by the next fiscal year.

The proposed rationing plan goes to a public hearing before the Casitas Municipal Water District at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Oak View Community Center.

After meeting with oil company officials, district General Manager John Johnson said last week that it would not be feasible to stop potable water deliveries to the oil companies, primarily Shell and Texaco, which together use about 3,000 acre-feet of water per year.

The first draft proposed denying water for oil companies’ secondary wells. The new draft would cut their consumption by 20%. It then would reduce their consumption by 15% more when the Lake Casitas storage level drops to 65,000 acre-feet, and by another 20% when the level reaches 50,000 acre-feet.

If the proposal takes effect as expected on July 1, the district will ask all customers to voluntarily cut water use by 20% by fiscal year 1990-91 from the amount they used during fiscal year 1988-89. Those who do not will pay stiff penalties on all violations after the first.

The rationing plan is designed to stretch Casitas supplies through a drought period and to meet increasing demands from the Ojai Valley and western Ventura.

The lake, capable of holding 250,000 acre-feet, now holds only 158,000 acre-feet of water, according to district reports, and is expected to reach 155,000 acre-feet by the end of 1990. One acre-foot of water serves a family of four for one year.

The first draft of the plan would have allowed 7,000 gallons of water per month per four-member household on a quarter-acre lot, but the new proposal increased that to 10,500 gallons per month.

Dwelling units in mobile home parks, apartment complexes and condominiums would receive base allocations of 5,600 gallons per month, under the new draft.

Lots with legal granny flats or second dwelling units were not addressed in the first draft. The new draft allots them 5,600 gallons per month, in addition to the regular allotment for the main house. But to qualify, the customer must present a building permit to the district and prove that the structure meets all building and safety standards.

“That’s impossible,” said Meiners Oaks resident Pat Baggerly, who said that many granny flats were built before Ventura County’s recently adopted second-dwelling-unit ordinance, or even before building permits were required.