OJAI : New Agency Will Manage Water Use

Gov. Pete Wilson has signed into law a bill that establishes a special agency to manage the use of ground water in the Ojai area.

The Ojai Groundwater Management Agency will be responsible for regulating the drilling of new wells and taxing every acre-foot of water pumped from the ground. In addition, the bill will regulate the extraction of ground water by the Casitas Municipal Water District, the largest water agency in the Ojai Valley.

The bill, signed by Wilson on Thursday, has been greeted by some as a progressive move to prevent the basin from becoming critically over-pumped, a condition that has forced Oxnard Plain water users to cut pumping by 25% over 20 years. Ground water has been virtually unrestricted since the 1870s, when settlers migrated north from foggy Ventura into the dry and clear Ojai Valley.

The new agency will be made up of five directors to include an elected board member from the Casitas Municipal Water District, an elected Ojai City Council member and representatives from the Ojai Water Conservation District and the Southern California Water Co. The fifth seat will be filled by a person appointed to represent the three largest community-owned water districts in the area.

“Protecting ground-water resources is critical to the economy and environmental health of the Ojai Valley,” said Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara), the sponsor of the bill. “SB 534 is a local solution to a local problem.”