CASITAS SPRINGS : Plans for Plant Alarm Residents

A proposal to build an ozone-generating plant on an earthquake fault has alarmed Casitas Springs residents who say their fears of toxic spills and other risks are not being addressed.

Barbara Garcia Weed said she is one of 280 residents in the small community near Foster Park who oppose building a large water treatment plant below Casitas Dam.

“We’re so close. We’re going to be in extreme danger if these toxic fumes will be released in this area,” Weed said.

Richard Barnett, chief engineer of Casitas Municipal Water District, said his staff heard residents’ concerns in June and spent extra time addressing them in a draft environmental report released recently.

The report concludes that the $27.8-million plant would not have any significant impact on the environment if all safety standards and procedures are followed.

“There will be no ozone released into the atmosphere,” Barnett said.

The water district was ordered in 1987 to bring Lake Casitas water up to state and federal drinking water standards by 1992. The water is disinfected with chlorine to serve 56,500 residents in the western county.

The new plant would filter and treat 32 million gallons of water per day. Hydroelectric turbines would provide power to pump ozone and other chemicals directly into the lines before the water is sold.

Pat Baggerly of the Environmental Coalition of Ventura County said the coalition also questions several of the report’s conclusions.

“The Red Mountain Fault is an enormous concern they have not answered,” Baggerly said. Various geologists predict that the Red Mountain Fault that runs under the dam could have an earthquake measuring from 6 to 7.5 on the Richter scale.

A public hearing on the draft document has been scheduled for 7 p.m. on Jan. 9 in the Oak View Community Center.