OAK VIEW : District Postpones Pipeline Decision

Casitas Municipal Water District officials have postponed a decision on whether to move forward with a proposed state water pipeline until after Ventura city residents vote in November on whether they want to import state water as well.

Casitas General Manager John Johnson said Wednesday that the board wants to see the outcome of the November ballot question that asks whether Ventura should import state water from Northern California through a pipeline or build a desalination plant.

After that, Casitas officials will decide whether to order studies to determine the best pipeline route and evaluate the impacts the pipeline would have on the environment.

Casitas officials hope to build a 30-mile pipeline from the state reservoir at Castaic Lake in Los Angeles County to western Ventura County in a joint project with the city of Ventura and the United Water Conservation District.

Officials from Casitas, the United Water Conservation District and Ventura are scheduled to meet Nov. 16--if still interested--to consider moving ahead with the study and environmental report, Johnson said.

“The next step starts to get expensive,” Johnson said.

The estimated cost for the study and impact report ranges from $200,000 to $800,000, he said. If Ventura wants to participate, Casitas and United would each pay 25%, and Ventura, which would receive the most water from the pipeline, would pay the remaining 50%.

Casitas now gets its water primarily from the 254,000-acre Casitas Lake, which collects water from the mountains above Ojai and the Ventura River. But the district would like to increase its supply to meet the needs of a growing population, reduce demand on ground water and improve water quality.

United represents water districts in Santa Paula, Port Hueneme, Fillmore, an area near Piru, and the Channel Islands Beach Community Service District.