Changes in Well Standards Delayed

Ventura County supervisors said Tuesday they want to find out whether new standards for water wells in the county’s mountains will actually work before they decide whether to implement the changes.

The proposed revisions are an effort to give property owners in mountainous areas more leeway in establishing wells to bring water to homes. The changes would set lower standards for the amount of water that must be pumped from a well during a test to demonstrate that a permanent water supply lies beneath a well.

At their Tuesday meeting, however, several supervisors said they needed more information on how effective the new standards would be. They directed county planners to study whether the relaxed rules would be able to show, with certainty, whether a steady supply of water lay beneath a well.

The proposed changes have provoked both the support of property owners and the anger of environmentalists, who charge that the new standards would encourage development in the mountains.

Former Ventura County Planning Commissioner Carla Bard told the supervisors the changes could have a significant environmental impact and should be subject to environmental study. Supervisor Judy Mikels suggested, however, that before the supervisors go to the expense of an environmental report, they should first determine if the new standards will work.

The changes would cover properties of 10 acres or more situated on top of fractured, subsurface rock. About 155 vacant, privately owned parcels in the Santa Monica Mountains would fall under the new guidelines. County planners said Tuesday they did not know how many parcels in other areas of the county would be affected.