Dam-Removal Test Gains Fund Backing
The Ventura City Council is expected to approve $30,000 today to assist in paying for a $400,000 demonstration of the removal of part of the Matilija Dam.
The county is seeking $30,000 each from the cities of Ventura, Oxnard and Port Hueneme to participate in the project. Port Hueneme has agreed to pay $5,000 and Oxnard has yet to provide any funding, according to a city report.
Ventura’s portion will come from money it has paid to the county Flood Control District.
“This is an important project,” Public Works Director Ron Calkins said. “It will restore the environment and the recovery of the steelhead.”
The demonstration will attempt to remove a portion of the dam as an example of the whole project.
The dam, which was built in 1947 to reduce flood hazards on the Ventura River, is now useless because it is clogged by 6 million cubic yards of sediment.
The complete dismantling of the dam could cost from tens of millions of dollars to hundreds of millions, Calkins said.
“If it has to be a large local share, I’m not sure where that will come from,” he said. “First, we have to prove this will work.”
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