COUNTYWIDE : Well Reactivated at County Center

The County Board of Supervisors decided Tuesday to reactivate a well at the County Government Center in Ventura because the county exceeded a city-imposed water limit last summer.

Because of heavy watering at the center, the county used nearly 2 million gallons over the water limit imposed last spring by Ventura as a drought-fighting measure.

The well, in operation from 1932 to 1982, doesn’t meet drinking water standards because of its salt content, said Peter S. Pedroff, director of the county’s General Services Agency. But it could be used for irrigation and to cut down on the county’s need for potable city water, he said. The well could be in operation by November at a cost of about $25,000, he said.

The well water must be used generously, he said, because its salt content could damage grass, plants and trees if too little is used.

Signs would be installed to tell passers-by that the county isn’t wasting drinking water to irrigate county grounds.

Pedroff said the county stayed under its city water allocation during the last billing period, which ended Monday, because of several water-conservation practices that were imposed.