EL RIO : Area to Get Water for 2 More Weeks

The unincorporated area of El Rio will continue receiving emergency water from the city of Oxnard for at least two more weeks until El Rio Mutual Water Co., which serves the community’s 360 residents, can find another water source or tap permanently into the city’s supplies, the Oxnard City Council decided Tuesday.

The water company’s shallow wells have been found to have high levels of nitrates, which can pose serious health hazards to infants. The Ventura County Environmental Health Division had determined that the nitrates seeped into the wells from septic tanks and from fertilizers from nearby fields.

Oxnard agreed Dec. 21 to supply El Rio with water for 30 days after county health officials declared a public health emergency based on the nitrate level and after it discovered that one of the water company’s wells had run dry and the other was pumping only 25 gallons per minute.

Oxnard council members will decide at a meeting Feb. 5 whether to grant another extension on water service. In the meantime, city staff members will study the possibility of providing water to El Rio on a permanent basis.