SANTA PAULA : Construction of Two Catch Basins to Begin
Acting to protect more than 200 homes and several bridges, the federal Soil Conservation Service has awarded $2-million worth of contracts to build debris catch basins in two canyons outside Santa Paula.
The basins, designed to trap sediment that washes down hills stripped bare by last fall’s fires, will be built in Adams and Fagan canyons by Radich Construction of Simi Valley.
Work will begin Wednesday and will probably take 40 days, said Sheri Klittich, a field officer with the Soil Conservation Service.
Because the basins will not be completed until late February, they will be of little help in preventing mudslides during this winter’s rainy season. But soil experts believe that the hillsides denuded by the Steckel wildfire will take up to a dozen years to recover fully. Thus, the basins will be helpful in protecting homes during future rainy seasons, Klittich said.
The danger of mudslides surfaced after the fire roared through the canyons, charring the vegetation that normally anchors topsoil and prevents dirt from slipping down hills during rainstorms.
“Put it this way: We wouldn’t be building these basins unless we thought there was a hazard,” Klittich said. “The (ditches) will be large, but over time they should blend in and not be too unsightly.”
The federal government’s emergency watershed protection program will pay 75% of the cost of the basins. The Ventura County Flood Control District will pay the remaining cost.
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