Water Users Hope to Chart Course for Ventura River : Conservation: Coalition will examine a plan to manage the waterway now, and in the event of another drought.

With water in the Ventura River still plentiful, a coalition of water leaders is moving to speed up planning about the river’s future before a new drought that could make regional cooperation more difficult.

The major users of the river plan to huddle Tuesday with environmentalists, resource agencies and landowners in an effort to draw a plan to manage the river so that all needs are met now and in the event of the next drought.

“There are ever-increasing demands on the river system,” said Chuck Curtis, general manager of the Ventura River County Water District, which pumps water from the river south of Ojai. “We want to be sure there is sufficient water for all the uses so we don’t run out of water now or when the next drought comes. And it will come.”

Curtis and John Johnson, general manager of Casitas Municipal Water District, originally hatched the idea to form a ground-water management plan for the entire river that would regulate pumping of underground river water, which ultimately depletes the surface flow.

But initial meetings with the California Coastal Conservancy and others persuaded them to expand the scope beyond pumpers to include farmers, landowners, wildlife agencies, cities, the county and others, Johnson said.

“We thought that if we’re going to do this and make it succeed, we ought to put all our heads together,” Johnson said. “Ultimately, if we don’t bring in all the parties, it’s not going to go anywhere.”

Not only must all parties come together, but the plan must be broad in scope, including all 226 miles of the river’s watershed and all 52 miles of its tributaries, said Mark Capelli, executive director of the Friends of the Ventura River.

Capelli called the upcoming meeting a half-step in the right direction.

“The whole watershed needs to be under one umbrella,” he said. “You can’t take water from one tributary or leave water in another without affecting the other sections.”

But Capelli said he planned to work with the group and hoped to help broaden its approach.

“It seems to be in an exploratory mode at this point,” he said.

The Ventura River proper begins at the confluence of the two forks of the Matilija Creek, the two largest and steepest tributaries.

From the confluence, the Ventura flows 16 miles to the ocean, supporting rare and endangered species of wildlife, including the steelhead trout and the tidewater goby fish, the least Bell’s vireo, the least tern, the snowy plover, the California brown pelican and others.

But the river also acts as a drain for the Ojai and Ventura River valleys, picking up runoff from farms, city streets and gutters along the way. At the river’s mouth, a permanent encampment of homeless people live, cook and dispose of garbage and sewage in the river.

In addition, as more people move to the area and there is more demand for water from the river to support residents, golf courses and businesses, the river becomes increasingly imperiled, authorities say.

Now, Curtis, Johnson and others hope to put together a plan to ensure the river’s future and their future water supplies. Ideally, they say, they would like to come up with a plan similar to the one being developed for the 100-mile long Santa Clara River.

The Santa Clara River Management and Enhancement Plan, which includes participants from both the counties of Los Angeles and Ventura, cities in both counties as well as resource agencies, farmers and property owners, aims to both protect and manage the river.

The group is nearly finished gathering information on the river, its inhabitants and users and will soon begin writing a draft plan for release next spring.

The Coastal Conservancy, which provided $250,000 in seed money to get the Santa Clara plan started, also may help organize the effort for the Ventura River.

The conservancy has also committed $500,000 to help restore the Ventura River Estuary.

“Since we’ve already contributed to the estuary plan, we’re very interested,” said Reed Holderman, resource enhancement manager for the state agency. “What happens upstream is going to come downstream. If the quality is good and the water is clean, it will be a healthier environment for the estuary.”

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which has led the effort to develop a plan for the Santa Clara, encourages such plans and will help however it can with the Ventura River, said Cat Brown, a service wildlife biologist.

Before the work began on the Santa Clara plan, “Fish & Wildlife did not talk with water districts and the farmers, and Fish and Game had little contact,” she said. “Now, we all sit down and talk together.”

In addition, she said, the public is more aware of the river and its resources.

“A few years ago the Santa Clara was almost an invisible river; now, it’s got name recognition. People know about the endangered species there and the resources. It’s as if the river got an agent.

“The Ventura River needs an agent too.”

The city of Ventura, by far the largest water user on the river, also plans to participate in the plan, said Steve Wilson, the city’s water superintendent.

On orders from the California Department of Health Services, the city is already studying what contaminants there are in the watershed, Wilson said. He said the city welcomed a chance to work with other water districts and property holders on the river.

“We’ll have a much larger perspective with everyone sitting at the same table,” he said.

FYI

A meeting on the shared uses of the Ventura River is open to the public at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Oak View Community Center, 18 Valley Road, Oak View. For more information, call the Casitas Municipal Water District at 649-2251, or the Ventura River county Water District at 646-3403.