OJAI : User Fees Would Fund Water Agency

A proposed water-management agency would be funded by fees paid by those who pump well water from the Ojai basin, agency backers said this week.

“The fees are virtually inevitable,” said Jim Coultas, an Ojai citrus grower and a director of the Casitas Municipal Water District, which is backing the proposed Ojai Ground Water Management Agency. Violators of the new agency’s rules would face misdemeanor citations, backers said.

The 6,000-acre aquifer under the city of Ojai is the only water basin in Ventura County that is not overdrawn, officials said.

To protect that supply, a half-dozen water officials and attorneys are engaged in a hurried effort to draft legislation that would empower the new agency to control the basin’s pumping, sales and replenishment. State Sen. Gary Hart (D-Santa Barbara) said he will consider introducing the bill to the Legislature in March.

The actual pumping and management fees, which are yet to be determined, would be used to retain consultants and contractors, officials said. The agency would not hire directors or other employees.

Until this week, the agency’s board was to include only elected representatives of the Casitas district, the city of Ojai, the Ojai Water Conservation District and another member to represent small mutual water companies.

But the largest user, Southern California Water Co., which draws 30% of the water pumped from the basin to serve 7,631 Ojai residents, objected to not being included.

Floyd Wicks, president of the San Dimas-based utility and a former Casitas executive, wrote a letter to Hart threatening to oppose the agency’s formation unless his Ojai division could get a seat on its board of directors.

“We thought we’d have to do something now or forever hold our peace,” said Tom Bunosky, a company superintendent. “It’s extremely important that we all work together.”

After a brief discussion Tuesday, the other officials unanimously agreed to let the public utility sit on the board.