FILLMORE : Council OKs Study of Water Rights

Although officials say there is no immediate water crisis in Fillmore, the City Council has voted to spend as much as $10,000 on legal research of Fillmore’s water rights.

The council decided to hire Los Angeles lawyer Ralph B. Helm, a water rights specialist, to document the city’s rights to surface and subterranean water in the Sespe Creek and the Santa Clara River.

“There’s no emergency,” said City Atty. Joseph P. Kern. “This is something the city has thought about for a long time. We could have done it 15 years ago.”

Fillmore owns and operates its own water system and always has had an abundant supply, city staff members said.

The two wells supplying Fillmore’s water are within the city limits.

The city also has three wells in the Santa Clara River bed, but does not use them as a water source because of the water’s poor quality and need for treatment.

The Fillmore Irrigation Co. is the only water agency pumping from the Sespe Creek. Mary Taylor, the company’s president, said Fillmore Irrigation supplies domestic and agricultural water to 150 customers.

Originally known as the Sespe Land and Water Co., the irrigation operation has used Sespe water since 1888.

Taylor said Fillmore Irrigation has researched its legal rights to the water, which are registered with the state.

Fillmore wants to define its legal rights to Sespe Creek water before any other cities or thirsty water agencies move in.

City Manager Roy Payne said the city is not likely to be affected by the current drought, but would profit from doing the water rights study now if dry conditions continue. “We want to feel the city has secured its water rights through the appropriate legal determinations,” he said.