Panel Backs Water Pipeline Project

Despite threats from business owners who say they may pull out of a $16-million water project, the governing board of the Channel Islands service district has voted to move ahead with pipeline construction.

The Channel Islands Beach Community Services District board voted 3 to 2 Thursday in favor of building the pipeline, which will bring in water from the Calleguas Municipal Water District and the Metropolitan Water District to be blended with the treated water from a desalination plant.

The contract for pipeline construction is scheduled to be awarded the week of Aug. 5, and construction is not expected to begin for about 30 days afterward. That could leave more time to resolve the concerns of merchants, said board President Marcia Marcus, who voted against the motion.

“I am not terribly unhappy but I think it would have been a wiser decision to delay,” Marcus said.

Several Channel Islands Harbor businesses have threatened to pull out of a much-touted agreement with the Port Hueneme Water Agency and instead get their water from Oxnard. Harbor businesses, which lease the property from the county, say they are charged unreasonably high water rates.

Since harbor businesses account for 45% of water use within the service district, their departure could mean higher water rates for Oxnard beach residents who are already expecting their service fees to double with the new water project.

Marcus is optimistic that the situation will be resolved. “Hopefully we will have time to get a determination from the county,” Marcus said. “This is a good project and it is unfortunate that we had this glitch at the very end.”