Ventura Told More Water Not Needed : Resources: Report could affect whether the City Council decides to build the desalination plant that residents backed in a 1992 advisory measure.

Consultants told Ventura city leaders on Wednesday that the city could get by without an additional water source for at least 16 years--a contradiction from an earlier study that had concluded the city’s wells would be dry by then without more water.

The latest study, which was released two weeks ago by Boyle Engineering, concludes that the city has more water available than was originally estimated three years ago. Even in a severe drought, an additional water source will not be needed until at least 2010.

On Wednesday, Boyle Engineering made a formal presentation to a subcommittee of the Ventura City Council to explain the findings.

“Things have changed,” said engineer Glenn McPherson, who headed the study.

McPherson told the committee that because of conservation, an increased supply from Lake Casitas and more water banking, a supplemental source won’t be immediately necessary.

The report could affect whether the City Council decides to build the desalination plant that residents backed in an advisory measure in November, 1992.

A project manager, a desalination expert and a public relations firm already have been hired for the desalination project. To date, the city has spent more than $400,000 on studies for the proposed plant.

Desalination proponents challenged the new findings Wednesday.

Councilman Gary Tuttle, who remembers Boyle Engineering’s dire warnings several years ago, said he was “amazed to find out we were out of the water crisis.”

Tuttle, who favors building a desalination plant, said he does not understand the findings of the latest study.

“A few years ago, we paid a lot of money to Boyle Engineering for them to tell us that we were running out of water,” Tuttle said. “And now the message is we don’t have a water problem. I find that hard to believe.”

According to the report, water consumption by Ventura residents was not as high as anticipated because people conserved more than experts had expected. Another significant factor that changed estimates of the city’s water supply is the fact that the city can now buy more water from Lake Casitas and conserve more of its ground water supply.

Ventura gets its water from Lake Casitas, the Ventura River and underground aquifers. All three sources were partly depleted during the drought, causing the council to pass a strict conservation ordinance and look for another water source.

In the study released in 1991, Boyle Engineering had predicted that an additional source of water must be found before 2010 or the city’s wells would run dry.

At that time, city officials were told they could not buy as much water from Lake Casitas, so the city had to rely more on ground water, McPherson said.

Since 1991, the city has also made repairs and additions to its water system that allow the city to draw more heavily from the Ventura River and store more water for emergencies, McPherson said.

Reservoirs have been replaced, pump stations have been added and new wells have been drilled. About half a year’s supply of water has been stored in the Fox Canyon reservoir. All those would delay the need for a new water source, McPherson said.

“I’m not suggesting that we don’t need a supplemental water supply,” McPherson said. “It just delays the need for it.”

The question of what should be the city’s long-term water source--desalination or importing water from Northern California--has historically been a thorny issue for city leaders.

Although the council has authorized spending money for studies on the desalination project, council members are divided on the issue.

Council members looking to either scrap the desalination project or avoid choosing one option over the other could use the findings from Boyle Engineering’s latest study to argue their cases in the next few months.

Councilman Jim Monahan, a strong proponent of a state water pipeline, said he doesn’t think the council needs to make a decision in a hurry.

“We had a drought, no doubt about it,” Monahan said. “But we were never in dire need. Boyle Engineering was projecting that the drought would continue. We have time now to really analyze our options.”

Mayor Tom Buford said he would do his best to push the council to make a decision on desalination versus state water, despite the additional time Boyle Engineering has given city leaders.

The city now has time to save money to build either a pipeline or a desalination plant, he said.

“We should take advantage of that,” Buford said. “I think the council as a whole could duck it pretty easily . . . but we need to make a decision.”