THE DROUGHT : Leaking Pool, Thirsty Trees Both Fall Victim

Ventura faced up to the grim realities of its severe water shortage Wednesday when school officials announced they will close a leaking swimming pool, and city officials inspecting dying trees in Grant Park said there was nothing they could do to save them.

School officials said they will close the Ventura High School pool today because a large crack in the concrete pool shell is allowing about 1,500 gallons of water a day to leak.

“We kept it open for as long as we could, but the drought is forcing us to close it,” said Gary Mortimer, director of facilities for the Ventura Unified School District.

City officials had cited the school Tuesday for violating Ventura’s water-waste ordinance, but the pool was allowed to remain open until today--the year’s last school day--so that swimming classes would not be disrupted. The 1989 ordinance sets penalties for unnecessary water use.

About 500 youngsters and adults who take part each summer in city-sponsored swimming programs at the school will be left hanging out to dry. And unless repairs are made before the fall, the closure will affect more than 1,000 students who regularly enroll in swimming classes. It is the only pool available to the public in the west end of Ventura.

The pool needs at least $250,000 worth of repairs before it can be reopened, and school officials said they have yet to decide whether to fix it or build a new one, which would cost more than $2 million.

Pool users were not the only ones made aware Wednesday of the consequences of living in drought-stricken Ventura.

Self-proclaimed tree lover Bob Piros has been crusading to save Grant Park’s pines and oaks since the drought began. Piros, 44, hauls about 16 gallons of water in the back seat of his car to irrigate the smaller pines along Brakey Road in Grant Park at least three times a week. But the bigger trees around them are slowly dying of thirst, so Piros asked the City Council last month to help him save them.

But he didn’t get any help. Instead, City Manager John Baker told Piros at a June 4 council meeting that the city was having enough trouble keeping landscaped areas from drying out with the little water they had available.

Undaunted, Piros turned to Councilman Gary Tuttle, who set up a Wednesday morning meeting at Grant Park with himself, Piros, city arborist Jerry Revard and officials from the city Parks and Recreation Department to look into the situation.

They met by Brakey Road at the foot of a barren yellow hillside that until recently was green and covered with pines. They all agreed that the trees were dying of thirst, but none could come up with any solutions.

“Where is the water going to come from?” asked Jim Walker, a Parks and Recreation official. “We are still trying to meet our mandatory 20% water reduction, but we’re not even there yet,” he said, referring to the city’s mandatory conservation ordinance enacted in April.

At least 24 trees have died from lack of water since April, and things could get worse before they get better, Parks and Recreation Director Barbara Harrison said. “It hurts us just as much as it hurts you,” Harrison told Piros. “Our job is to take care of parks.”

Tuttle said he would look into the possibility of using reclaimed water for the trees. Piros seemed heartbroken but hopeful that a few trees would be saved.