Water District Wins Statewide Honor
A program to create a giant below-ground reservoir won Ventura County’s largest water district statewide recognition, with Calleguas Municipal Water District receiving the Water Resources Leadership Award.
The California Water Resources Assn. is expected to present Calleguas board President Patrick Miller and General Manager Don Kendall with the award today at the association’s annual meeting in San Diego.
“We were very surprised and proud,” Kendall said Wednesday. “But it’s reflective of the kind of cooperative relationship we have with our subagencies.”
He referred to cities and other districts that deliver water to Calleguas customers, including about 500,000 people in Simi Valley, Moorpark, Thousand Oaks, Camarillo and Oxnard.
The award recognizes Calleguas’ efforts to build the Las Posas Basin aquifer injection project, in which surplus state water is pumped into an existing underground basin for extraction during times of water scarcity.
The project, which will provide up to 300,000 acre-feet of water storage, would insulate the communities in Ventura County that use Calleguas water from interruptions during times of drought, earthquake or separation from state suppliers, Kendall said.
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