VENTURA : Keys Water Tested for Contamination

The Ventura County Environmental Health Department took water samples from the Ventura Keys on Monday to determine whether the waters are still contaminated from a sewage spill detected last week, city officials said.

On Friday, the city announced in a press release that tests conducted by environmental health officials after complaints by a resident of a sewer discharge into the Keys water channel “indicated a higher than normal chloroform count.” Chloroform is found in raw sewage.

In the statement, the city acknowledged that the discharge had come from one of its storm drains and said the problem had been corrected. It advised Keys residents to “exhibit caution-discretion in any bodily contact with the channel waters.”

Keys City Project Manager Barbara Fosbrink said the results of the water tests taken Monday will be made public Wednesday or Thursday.

Keys homeowner Ray Russum blasted the city for allowing the spill: “The city has been dumping sewage into the keys for years, and it’s about time that they bite the bullet and pay for the cleanup.”

In recent months, Keys residents and city officials have discussed ways to finance the dredging of the Keys but have been unable to reach agreement.

Last month, at a meeting with Keys residents, the city offered to pay for 20% of the cleanup, citing city engineering reports showing that city storm-drain discharges are responsible for one-fifth of the silt accumulation at the keys.

But the offer was met with boos and jeers by the mayority of the about 200 residents at the meeting. Russum and others called for the city to foot the entire bill and threatened to sue the city if it refused.