VENTURA : City to Give Water to Santa Barbara

The city of Ventura, in a gesture of solidarity with a sister city in need, will allow Santa Barbara to receive the full share of a two-year emergency supply of water from the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District.

The Ventura City Council voted 6 to 1 Monday to give up 600 acre-feet of the water it was to have received from the MWD in exchange for sharing the costs of building a temporary pipeline to bring the water north from Oxnard under the Santa Clara River.

Oxnard is hooked to the MWD, which receives the lion’s share of its water from the state water project in Northern California.

By giving Santa Barbara the full 2,400 acre-feet expected to begin flowing in from the pipeline in November, Ventura forfeited its right to its 600 acre-feet--enough to supply 600 families for a year.

The council’s gesture came one month after Ventura water officials learned of underground water supplies that would take care of the city’s immediate needs, and weeks after a brush fire took a big toll on Santa Barbara’s already depleted water reserves.

Before the council vote, Santa Barbara Mayor Sheila Lodge said that without the emergency water supply, the city would run out of water by 1992. Santa Barbara has been hit harder by the four-year drought than any other city in the state. Its residents have been forced to cut back water use by 45%.

Ventura is also suffering from the drought. Its residents have been told to cut back water use by an average of 30%. Lodge thanked the city for its generosity.