CAMARILLO : Water District to Collect $567,000

Within two weeks, the Camrosa Water District will have collected $567,000 in settlements resulting from a lawsuit filed five years ago against the creators, manufacturers and distributors of defective polybutylene pipe, a Camrosa attorney said.

The settlements will cover the replacement of about 2,000 connections made with the plastic pipes, about 500 of which have failed or been replaced since 1979, Camrosa attorney Gary Norris said.

The settlement with Shell Oil Corp., which has owned the manufacturing rights and process since 1977, also includes an obligation to pay for any pipe that breaks in the next 15 years.

Camrosa filed suit in May, 1987, in Ventura County Superior Court, alleging that polybutylene pipe was defective because “it failed prematurely and it failed randomly,” Norris said.

Polybutylene was developed by Mobil Oil Corp., which sold the manufacturing rights and process to Whitco Corp., which then sold it to Shell.

These corporations as well as four pipe manufacturers and two pipe distributors have agreed to pay for the replacement of most of the polybutylene pipe installed throughout the Camrosa water system between 1974 and 1986. Another 1,000 connections made before 1979 will not be covered by the settlements, Norris said.

Copper pipe has been used to repair the broken joints, which connect water mains in streets to meter boxes near curbs. Loss of water pressure is one sign of a faulty connection, he said.

Lawyers’ fees for the case have totaled $250,000, but those costs are not recoverable under the settlements, he said.