Council OKs Plan to Sell Creek Water to Agency : Thousand Oaks: Angry ranchers say they will sue the city. They cite economic harm.

Thousand Oaks has approved a plan to take free water from farmers along the Conejo Creek and sell it to a Camarillo agency, prompting threats of a lawsuit from angry ranchers.

The City Council on Tuesday night unanimously approved selling treated waste water that the city dumps into the creek to the Pleasant Valley County Water District. The council also approved an environmental study that said the plan would pose no permanent harm to the environment or agriculture.

But farmers in the Santa Rosa Valley say they will sue because the city’s study failed to consider the economic harm to their farms if water is taken away.

“What you’re basically doing is robbing Peter to sell it to Paul,” said David Lamb, an attorney who represents five large ranches, including a 950-acre ranch founded by his ancestor, Juan Camarillo. Lamb said ranchers plan to file a lawsuit against Thousand Oaks within 30 days.

Farmers have siphoned water for free since the city began dumping it into the creek in the 1970s.

Don Nelson, the city’s utilities director, said officials decided years ago to stop dumping the water to help Pleasant Valley with water-supply problems caused by the six-year drought. The city had to commission an environmental study and work out an agreement with the Pleasant Valley district for sale of the water.

Thousand Oaks applied to the state in 1989 for rights to the water in the creek, but a hearing before the state Water Resources Control Board has not yet been scheduled, Nelson said.

In the Oxnard Plain, where the Pleasant Valley district is situated, a lack of rainfall and excessive ground-water pumping have contributed to the pollution of fresh water in underground aquifers. With a dearth of fresh water in the aquifers, more salty seawater has seeped in.

If Pleasant Valley provides Oxnard Plain farmers with waste water, they would not be forced to pump ground water from the aquifers and the trend could be reversed, Nelson said.

Under the plan, Pleasant Valley would purchase about 10,000 acre-feet of water each year from Thousand Oaks. An acre-foot is equal to about 326,000 gallons of water. Pleasant Valley has agreed to build a $7-million system to pipe water from the creek to the farms.

Thousand Oaks officials say the plan is supported by the conservation-minded cities of Ventura, Oxnard and Simi Valley, and by the County Board of Supervisors.

The city has received letters of support from the Assn. of Water Agencies of Ventura County, the Calleguas Municipal Water District and the United Water Conservation District. “We’re inventing the wheel on this, and I think we should be lauded,” Mayor Robert E. Lewis said.

Farmers say they have as much right to the water as Thousand Oaks. Since the 1970s, they have counted on the water that flows downstream from Thousand Oaks to grow a variety of crops, including avocados, lemons and flowers.

Farmer John Lamb, a newly elected director of the five-member Camrosa Water District, said Thousand Oaks’ environmental study is flawed. The report shows that its authors do not have a good understanding of farming, he said.

“The consultant, throughout this EIR, has shown an ignorance toward agriculture and the way agriculture does business,” he said.

Another farmer predicted that those who depend on free water will be forced out of business if they cannot find adequate supplies from other water agencies or from their own wells. “How can you do farming without water?” asked Santa Rosa Ranch owner Sandra Goldberg, whose family grows lemons, oranges and nursery crops on 835 acres. “We’ll have to sell our property for development.”