OJAI VALLEY : Revised Water Plan Is More Optimistic
Casitas Municipal Water District has drafted revisions of a five-year water management plan that sparked controversy when it was adopted in 1985.
The board will take public comment on the revised Urban Water Management Plan through Dec. 19, when it will hold a public hearing on the plan.
The 1985 plan was attacked by environmentalists who said it was too vague, that it did not do enough to prevent a water shortage and that it gave the district too much power over smaller water agencies inside its boundaries.
The plan had predicted customer demands for water could outstrip the district’s available supply before the year 2000.
The revised plan paints a rosier picture by showing a possible surplus of almost 5,000 acre-feet of water by 2005. The district serves the Ojai Valley and parts of Ventura.
The new document outlines many conservation measures the district has undertaken since the board declared a water-shortage emergency in April, such as requiring agricultural irrigation audits and low-flow plumbing fixtures in remodeled dwellings.
More conservation efforts, higher water rates and imported water from the California Aqueduct are calculated to provide the surplus.
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