CAMARILLO : Farmers Seek Rights to Treated Effluent

Four Camarillo farms downstream from a Thousand Oaks treatment plant have asked the state to grant them rights to treated effluent, a state water official said Tuesday.

Since July, the state has received applications from the estate of Carmen Camarillo Jones, B-H Farms, the Fitzgerald Ranch and from farmer Robert Lamb, said Katherine Marowka, associate engineer for the state Water Resources Control Board’s Division of Water Quality and Water Rights.

Combined, the farms are asking for rights to 4,508 acre-feet of water a year from the Arroyo Conejo and Conejo creeks, Marowka said. An acre-foot is enough to supply a family of four for a year.

The requests put a wrinkle into a plan Thousand Oaks has to sell 13,000 acre-feet of treated water that it pours into the Conejo Creek each year to farmers on the Oxnard Plain.

Marowka said the state has delayed action until the city completes an environmental report on the effect of diverting water from the creek.

Farmers who irrigate with water that flows downstream from the Hill Canyon Treatment Plant in Thousand Oaks say the city’s plans will deal an economic blow to their operations.