COUNTYWIDE : District to Explain Water Pump Limits
Two workshops are planned today to explain new ground-water pumping restrictions to Ventura County growers, residents and city officials.
The Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency will hold the two-hour workshops at 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. at the Calleguas Municipal Water District office at 2100 Olsen Road in Thousand Oaks.
The agency regulates pumping from 760 wells on the Oxnard Plain and the Las Posas Valley. The wells serve about 450 growers and supplement water supplies for the cities of Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo and Moorpark.
The agency’s Ordinance 5 requires pumpers to reduce their extractions by 5% beginning in January. Under the ordinance, they must cut water pumping by 25% by 2010. The restrictions were adopted in August to reduce pumping in the Fox Canyon Aquifer and the Las Posas Basin.
Pumping over the last 60 years has allowed seawater to seep into freshwater supplies in the Fox Canyon Aquifer, the county’s largest underground supply.
Farmers who already conserve water can earn increased allocations if they prove that they irrigate efficiently. Efficiency is determined by the Ventura County Resource Conservation District. No adjustments are available for cities and urban water users.
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