Panel OKs Agency’s Habitat Restoration

A state agency has approved a plan for an Ojai Valley sanitation district to improve the habitat along the Ventura River as a penalty for a September chlorine spill that killed 2,600 fish.

The Los Angeles Regional Water Control Board’s action this week means the Ojai Valley Sanitary District will either remove nonnative nuisance vegetation along the river, replant a section of riverbank the district damaged two years ago or restock the river with aquatic animals or plants.

The work is in lieu of all but $980 of a proposed $56,535 fine.

The exact work the district will complete will be decided after consultation with the California Department of Fish and Game.

But the settlement incorporates suggestions from the Friends of the Ventura River that include improving the river’s habitat, said Mark Pumford, a water control board member who supervises the Ventura County watershed. The environmental group had criticized a proposal that the district simply restock the river with fish or other animals, saying that had likely already been done by nature.

“They really came up with some good suggestions this time around,” Pumford said.

“It looks like the stream bank restoration plans will be the best thing all the way around.”

The accidental spill of 55,000 gallons of water containing chlorine at levels 700 times the allowable limit occurred as the district began operating the initial phase of a new treatment plant. The plant is supposed to improve the quality of water discharges into the river.