Boil Water Order Wasn’t Necessary

It would seem that enough has been written about the Ventura city’s water system problems of Jan. 10-13 regarding the boil water order. But we are all left with unanswered questions that require explanation.

First of all, why was the city taking any water at all from the Ventura River after the first signs of dirty, ugly, muddy-looking water, regardless of whether they were taking it by their water wells? Surely, city personnel realized that this water would muddy up their raw-water reservoir to the point that they would have to take it off-line to clean it--needlessly, since they had alternate sources ready to draw from.

The city has Lake Casitas water available and regardless whether its water is higher in turbidity than normal and may be discolored, the city has always treated Lake Casitas water and this time would be no different. Why didn’t they immediately avail themselves of this source before taking any dirty river water?

It would appear to this past water system employee that this whole boil water episode was needless and that preventive measures should have been the order of the day rather than the confusing situation that developed. Never, in the memories of the numerous people I have talked to, and in my own experience, has the city been required to issue a boil water order.

In conclusion, I sincerely hope this was a wake-up call for the city and that such an incident, as has occurred, will not needlessly happen again. It put too many people and businesses into confusion and in many cases, cost them considerable money.

Richard W. Dettloff

Ventura