PORT HUENEME : Panels Advance Plans for Water Plant

Local officials took a giant step toward providing Port Hueneme residents with top-quality tap water Wednesday by approving four key contracts that allow plans for a regional treatment plant to move forward.

At a joint meeting, the Port Hueneme City Council voted 5 to 0 and the board of directors of the Channel Islands Beach Community Services District voted 4 to 0, with one member absent, to approve the agreements.

The city’s water quality improvement program calls for the combination of ground water treated at a proposed high-tech regional plant and imported water from the Calleguas Municipal Water District. Construction of the treatment center and necessary pipelines is estimated to cost $14 million.

Formal votes on the contracts will occur today at a meeting of the Port Hueneme Water Agency, which represents the city and the beach district--covering the unincorporated county areas of Silver Strand Beach, Hollywood Beach and Hollywood-by-the-Sea.

Two of the contracts effectively guarantee a water supply of 4 million gallons daily for the treatment plant. Ground water, which will make up 75% of the total water supply, will come from the United Water Conservation District, the city’s current water provider, and will be treated at the proposed plant. The remainder will be imported water transported through pipelines from the Calleguas Municipal Water District.

Another contract links naval bases in Port Hueneme and Point Mugu to the project as customers for the improved, blended water. The final contract would permit the Calleguas water district to use an existing pipeline owned by the city of Oxnard.

Lynn Takaichi, a vice president for the environmental engineering group overseeing the project, announced at the meeting that Congress had allocated $1 million for the project for the current fiscal year, and he indicated that more federal support could be forthcoming.

Doug Breeze, Port Hueneme’s public works manager, said the contracts’ approval allows the project to move forward into the design phase. Construction should begin early next year and the treatment facility could be operational by the end of 1996.

Meanwhile, a public hearing will be held about the annexation of the Port Hueneme Water Agency to the Calleguas water district on Nov. 15 at 9 a.m. by the Local Agency Formation Commission.