River May Be Regulated as Entire System : Resources: Without its management, legal battles could occur the next time a dry cycle hits, organizers say.

With increasing diversions from the Ventura River and the certainty that dry years will return, those who draw river water from above and below ground are taking the first steps toward regulating how the stream is used.

Discussions are still preliminary, but if a ground-water or river water management agency is formed, it would mark the first time that the 16-mile-long Ventura River has ever been regulated as an entire system.

The two largest river users--the Casitas Municipal Water District and the city of Ventura--are taking part in the effort to decide how the river should be managed. But smaller players such as the Ventura River County Water District are involved as well.

Only two other ground-water management agencies have been formed in Ventura County--the Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency regulates water below the Oxnard Plain, and an Ojai ground-water agency regulates the basin below the Ojai Valley.

But no one agency oversees how much water is taken from the Ventura River Valley. And short of paging through county well permits and doing a field survey of how much each well draws, there is no way to find out how much water is pumped from the river’s below-ground basins.

The State Water Resources Control Board regulates how much water can be taken from the surface of a river, but no state law directly regulates how much water can be drawn from the ground. And wells within the river valley suck down the level of the surface water.

“Ground and surface water might not be connected in the eyes of the law, but they certainly are connected in every other way,” said John Johnson, general manager of Casitas. Casitas, the largest river water user, diverts an average of about 14,040 acre-feet of river water per year--enough to supply 28,000 families.

Without some form of management for the cities, water districts and individuals that draw water from the river, legal battles could result the next time a dry cycle hits the county, organizers said.

“There are a whole bunch of competing uses on the river,” Johnson said. “And sooner or later, we will get into a discussion about whether one use is more important than the other. It’s better to head it off now and keep it out of court.”

Johnson and Chuck Curtis, general manager of the Ventura River County Water District, are heading the effort to bring the competing interests together.

“As the years go on and the droughts keep coming, we’ll be shorter and shorter of water,” said Curtis, whose district uses about 1,200 acre-feet of water a year to serve customers between Casitas Springs and Ojai. “We want to work out a plan where we can use the river to its fullest for everything--environmental reasons as well as water for people to drink.”

Curtis and Johnson have contacted other water districts in the area, along with the city of Ventura; the Farmont Corp., which plans a golf course in the area; Ventura County, and Mark Capelli, executive director of Friends of the Ventura River.

Capelli, a lecturer in coastal systems at UC Santa Barbara, praised the effort to bring all the parties together to manage the river, but he said the concept does not go far enough.

“We’re suggesting that they broaden the scope to include a management plan for the entire watershed,” he said. The watershed--the area where runoff is collected to feed the Ventura River and its ground-water basins--is 226 square miles.

Capelli said the Ventura River should be approached in the same fashion as the Santa Clara River. A team of state, county and local interests, including property owners, growers, water districts and wildlife agencies, is drawing up a plan to manage the entire 100-mile-long Santa Clara.

John Turner, senior hydrologist and a ground-water authority with the county Public Works Department, agreed.

“In order to manage the entire system, you need control over the whole system and its watershed,” Turner said. He said the adjacent Ojai Groundwater Management Agency should be combined with any new organization to best manage the Ventura River Valley and its basins.

The first stage of the Santa Clara River study has been funded by the California Coastal Conservancy. Capelli said he is trying to arrange a meeting between the Coastal Conservancy and organizers of the Ventura River management effort.

Ron Calkins, director of public works for the city of Ventura, said a plan to manage the river as a whole is necessary to balance the needs of all users of the river. The city is the second-largest user, taking an average of 10,000 acre-feet of water a year. But it has plans to increase its diversions by a yet-unknown amount.

“People are making decisions about using the river independently of what other people are doing,” he said. “I don’t think that’s in the best interest of the people or the river.”