VENTURA : Desalination Plant Study Under Way

An undersea engineering company hired by the city of Ventura started its first phase of examining an underground pipeline Friday to see whether it can be used to pump ocean water into a proposed desalination plant.

Officials from Oceaneering Technologies, a Ventura firm that specializes in undersea investigations and repairs, said the pipe appeared to be in good condition, considering it has not been used since the early 1970s.

Engineers sent a tiny video camera on a ski-like sled down a portion of the narrow, 2,800-foot-long pipe to examine its interior while engineers watched a video screen image of the pipe from above ground. The camera went through 80 feet of the pipe before it was stopped by ocean water.

“We did what we were hoping to do today,” said Glenn McPherson, managing engineer with Boyle Enginaering Corp. in Ventura, which has been hired as consultants to the city. “We wanted to see if it would be cost effective to line this pipe.”

Oceaneering officials will send scuba divers down in the next two weeks to examine if the ocean floor has caused any cracks or leaks in the pipe. If the pipe is in good condition, its interior will be lined with a newer plastic one.

The underground pipe, built in 1966 for the Seaside Sewage Treatment Plant and abandoned when the plant closed in 1972, starts near Surfer’s Point on the beach and winds along the ocean floor.

The pipe could be used to bring in ocean water and then pump the brine back out to sea after it is separated from desalinated water, McPherson said.

McPherson’s company is subcontracting with Oceaneering to perform a two-month feasibility study of the pipe.

After the six-year drought, city officials decided to look into an additional water source for the city, whose main sources now are Lake Casitas reservoir, the Ventura River and ground water.

In November, residents voted by a margin of 55%-45% in favor of building a desalination plant instead of importing water from Northern California.

The City Council has not given final approval for the project, but has allocated money for preliminary studies and planning. The council decided in April to spend about $175,000 for the first major study on the facility.

City officials have estimated that the plant will cost between $33 million and $55 million to build. A site for the plant has not yet been chosen.