Additional State Water Conduit Would Disturb Environment : Resources: Pipeline would cause mostly temporary problems for commuters or wildlife, depending on its route, report says.

A second pipeline carrying state water into Ventura County would have significant but mostly temporary environmental impacts, water officials said Monday.

All three of the proposed routes for a new Metropolitan Water District pipeline have some environmental drawbacks that must be mitigated, according to a draft environmental impact report.

One route, along the Santa Clara River, could disturb and perhaps temporarily displace two endangered species that live along the waterway: the three-spined stickleback, a fish that dates from prehistoric times, and the least Bell’s vireo, a tiny songbird that thrives near riverbeds, said Peter Jacobsen, MWD project manager.

Two alternate routes would have more direct impact on human beings--particularly those who already sit in traffic on clogged freeways--since the construction of the proposed pipeline would thread through well-populated areas of the San Fernando Valley for an estimated three to four years, Jacobsen said.

All of the state project water imported into the county by MWD now comes through a pipeline from the San Fernando Valley and is distributed by the Calleguas Municipal Water District, which serves 450,000 users in east Ventura County, as well as Oxnard and Camarillo.

That pipeline runs through a tunnel in the Santa Susana Mountains east of Simi Valley and crosses a fault. Though plans for a second pipeline--the West Valley Project--have been underway for several years, growing concerns over the vulnerability of a system fed by one pipe were heightened by the Northridge earthquake.

“The economic viability of Ventura County right now hangs on one thread,” said Calleguas General Manager Don Kendall. “We need water flowing down a new line by the year 2000.”

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Plans call for a pipeline eight feet in diameter, which would double the capacity to carry state water into the county. However, Jacobsen said that could change as MWD re-evaluates some of its expenditures under a $6-billion capital improvement program.

“We may rethink some of the sizing,” Jacobsen said. “We could make the pipe smaller in diameter.”

The capacity of the West Valley Project is projected to meet county demands based on expected growth through the year 2030. Though officials emphasized Monday that the environmental impact report for the project is still a first draft--with a final draft expected by late summer--they said they have targeted three possible routes for the West Valley Project, planned for completion by the year 2000.

The first would run from Castaic Lake and roughly follow the course of the Santa Clara River. The second and third alternatives would parallel the Santa Susana pipeline already in place, and either be a nearly identical pipeline near the surface or buried in a deep tunnel. “The big issue on the Santa Clara River is the habitat and environmental concerns,” Jacobsen said. He said MWD would build only during the dry season between June and October to avoid impacts on the three-spined stickleback.

The fish is highly adapted to the dry climate and takes refuge in small pools during summer months, where construction would have little or no impact, Jacobsen said. MWD would also reroute construction around nests of the least Bell’s vireo, Jacobsen said.

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The pipeline would pass through Happy Camp Regional Park and part of the park would probably have to be closed temporarily, he said. In addition, about 86 acres of citrus orchards would be removed and 51 acres of crops would be lost during the construction.

Kendall said several citrus growers have raised concerns in public hearings about dust raised by construction interfering with their pest control. However, he said, “we certainly didn’t meet with any vehement protests.”