Judge Hears Water Storage Plan Debate

A Ventura County Superior Court judge heard arguments Monday on whether a proposal to store millions of gallons of drinking water underground violates state public-notice laws.

Judge Barbara A. Lane said she will issue a written decision by Jan. 17 and put the project by Calleguas Municipal Water District on hold until then.

Joseph and Mary Viramontez said Calleguas had failed to notify landowners properly about a plan to install five wells near Moorpark. The couple owns the land on which the water district wants to install the wells.

But lawyer Barry A. Ross, representing the water district, said the district had complied with the notification rules in the California Environmental Quality Act by publishing two advertisements in local newspapers. The judge expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of the newspaper notices, pointing out that one of them was published on a holiday, making it appear that the district “was looking to push something through.”

Lawyer Glen M. Reiser, representing the Viramontezes, warned that the project “lays the groundwork to triple the population of the county of Ventura” and should therefore be subject to a full environmental review.

Ross, while acknowledging “some relationship between the availability of water and future population,” said the stored water would be used for drought protection and emergency needs.