OJAI VALLEY : District Backs New River Classification

Despite objections from environmentalists, the Ojai Valley Sanitary District board has supported a staff recommendation to reclassify the Ventura River as a way of saving money and time.

With the designation, the district could wait five years before starting expensive quarterly testing for levels of mercury set by new, more stringent federal standards.

In a 5-2 vote, the board decided this week not to withdraw the district’s application to the California-Los Angeles Water Quality Control Board that the Ventura River be designated a Category A body of water. Category A, which is not yet an official designation, would be used for rivers that do not flow year-round.

Board members Ted Cartee and Stan Greene dissented.

After reviewing the information, the district board “said there was enough justification to go ahead and do it,” said Ron Sheets, superintendent of the waste-water treatment plant. Sheets applied for the designation earlier this year.

Mark Capelli, executive director of Friends of the Ventura River, said he was disappointed by the board’s action.

“I thought it was unfortunate, but I’m not surprised,” said Capelli, who fears that the designation could open the door for higher levels of pollutants to go untested during the five-year period. That, he said, could harm the five endangered species that dwell in and near the lower Ventura River. The species are the western pond turtle, the tidewater goby, the least tern, the California brown pelican and the least Bell’s vireo.

Capelli plans to urge the regional water quality control board at its Oct. 19 meeting that the Ventura River does not fit Category A criteria. He will contend that the testing process for pollutants should be the same whether rivers are dry for part of the year or not.

The regional board will reconsider whether to create the new designation at its Oct. 19 meeting.