Pace of Dam Overhaul Highlights Issues of Safety, Noise

Construction crews and heavy equipment are working around the clock to fortify Casitas Dam before winter storms threaten progress, but such haste is not winning many friends in the community.

The 40-year-old dam, deemed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to be at serious risk in the event of a major earthquake, has been undergoing a massive overhaul as part of a $42-million effort to ensure it can survive a direct seismic jolt.

Construction, which began in earnest in August, has since accelerated--outstripping the patience of neighbors in Casitas Springs and the bureau’s ability to keep promises regarding safety measures that it made to people downstream in west Ventura.

Residents are upset about legions of big trucks crawling along Casitas Vista Road each morning and the roar and clang of heavy equipment throughout the night. A machine called “the grizzly” seems particularly distressing; it spins, shakes and sorts tons of rock and sounds like a gigantic, unbalanced washing machine.

“This project was entirely not supervised enough. It’s ravaging the back country, and the dust and noise are fairly egregious,” said Dave Kaplan, who lives in the area.

Environmentalists are dismayed. The Santa Barbara-based Environmental Defense Center earlier this year threatened to sue to halt the project until environmental concerns were addressed, although legal action was averted through a compromise to protect natural resources. Center attorney John Buse said that agreement needs to be revisited because lights, dust and noise appear greater than anticipated.

And Ventura County lawmakers and emergency response personnel are frustrated because they say the federal bureau failed to install a fully functional alarm system along the Ventura River to warn residents of an approaching flood should a quake topple the dam while it’s being strengthened.

During public meetings last spring, bureau officials assured the public a network of sirens would be installed before dam construction began. That did not occur, although Acoustic Technology Inc. later installed the devices at eight locations from the dam near Oak View to near the fairgrounds in Ventura eight miles away. However, tests conducted on Sept. 13 and Oct. 28 revealed the flood early warning system was still not fully functional, said Michael Lavery, assistant fire chief for the Ventura City Fire Department. “It’s unacceptable,” Lavery said. “The siren system was promised to be in place before the beginning of construction.”

At a meeting last month, U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), Ventura Mayor James J. Friedman, Councilman Brian Brennan and city fire officials met with officials from the bureau to express their displeasure over the agency’s response to community concerns.