Work on Water Plant Nearly Completed

Work is nearly complete on an expanded water-treatment facility and reservoir in east Ventura, city officials said.

Work on the expanded facility, which began in 1996, is 80% complete and should be operational by July, said Raymond Gutierrez, an associate civil engineer with the city.

The new 2.2-million-gallon reservoir will hold enough water to serve 1,050 east Ventura households with potable water for a week, Gutierrez said, adding that the underground water storage tank system at the end of Hill Road is being brought in “on budget and on time.”

“This project worked like a dream,” Gutierrez said. “We did something called partnering. It brought all the main players to the table from the first: the contractor, the city, the design engineer and the inspector. We worked together as a team the whole time. Everyone--Merco Construction Engineers, Kennedy/Jenks Consultants--will tell you it’s one of the best projects we’ve ever seen constructed.”

The existing reservoir and a companion tank will hold 6 million gallons.

Total construction cost of the project is expected to be $6.7 million.

Steve Wilson, water superintendent for the city, said the current water-conditioning plant, which reduces iron and manganese in the city’s ground-water supply, was not addressing intermittent odor problems caused by hydrogen sulfide and lacked the capacity to treat water from the city’s wells.

Wilson said the new plant “will nearly run itself. It will be controlled by a fully automated system that lets us control it from a remote location.”

A typical household of four people uses 300 gallons of water per day, Gutierrez said.