THE DROUGHT RATIONING : Study Shows How to End Water Shortage

The city of Ventura’s strict water rationing policy could be relaxed as early as next January if a plan to tap into unused ground-water supplies goes as scheduled, city officials said Tuesday.

A city-commissioned study on short-term water sources shows that the city could make up its 4,000 acre-foot water shortfall by purchasing water from the Alta Mutual Water Co. and from an agricultural well, and by adding a well to its golf course reservoir on the east end of the city.

Officials said the new water will allow them to lift the building moratorium and the limits on daily water consumption imposed in April after a four-year drought dried up the Ventura River, which used to be the east end’s main source.

“I think that we can lift the water rationing restrictions by January of 1991,” Mayor Richard Francis said Tuesday. “That may be optimistic, but I like optimism.”

City Manager John Baker added, “There might be some relaxation of the water rationing. But it depends on the rainfall and the timing of these new water sources being available.”

Glenn McPherson from Boyle Engineering Corp. told the council Monday that its recently completed study showed that the Ventura River’s 4,000 acre-foot shortfall could be made up by the end of the year.

By then, he said, the city could be operating a new golf course well that would yield 2,000 acre-feet of water a year, and it could be connected to an Alta Mutual well yielding 2,400 acre-feet a year and an agricultural well yielding 400 acre-feet a year.

“And these are conservative estimates,” McPherson told the council. “We could probably come up with more water.” An acre-foot of water typically takes care of the yearly water needs of a family of four.

Councilwoman Cathy Bean, a member of the city’s ad-hoc water committee that is responsible for overseeing the water study, said the results are encouraging.

“We would probably ease the restrictions on water use and allow some development,” she said. The water rationing ordinance imposed a moratorium on all new water hookups in the city, bringing development to a virtual standstill.

Vice Mayor Donald Villeneuve, who is also an ad-hoc water committee member, said he would wait for the early spring rainfall before relaxing restrictions.

“If we have a normal rain season, then it would be reasonable to relax the ordinance, but we wouldn’t do it until April,” he said.

However, city officials cautioned that the Boyle study only identifies emergency short-term supplies and that some conservation efforts will have to continue until the city adopts a permanent, long-term solution such as hooking up to the State Water Project or building a desalination plant. Either project would take years to complete.

“The danger with this report is that people might seize on it in the most optimistic fashion and say ‘We’re home free,’ ” Villeneuve said.

Other city officials, still concerned with overdrafting Ventura’s depleted aquifers, said they would oppose any significant changes in the water ordinance.

“I would only support a minimal relaxation of the ordinance when the new water becomes available,” Councilman Todd Collart said. “I would still try to maintain a basic threshold of 294 gallons a day for single-family homes and 196 gallons for multifamily homes.”

But the city could liberalize by allowing more exemptions for water users who can demonstrate that water rationing is causing them undue hardship.

Councilman John McWherter said he would oppose any easing of water use restrictions until the city’s long-term problems are resolved.

“Until we replenish our aquifers, I would certainly not vote for lifting any water restrictions,” he said.

“The good news is that the water crisis is not going to get worse, not that the crisis is over.”