Reducing Water Imports Pays Off
The federal government’s water czar visited Thousand Oaks on Wednesday to present a $300,000 check to the Calleguas Municipal Water District for its efforts to improve water distribution and reduce importation.
John Keys, who heads the Bureau of Reclamation, the nation’s largest wholesale water supplier, presented Calleguas with the grant money to help pay for a $3.4-million project to modernize the district’s monitoring equipment.
New digital equipment is to be installed at the district’s 84 meter stations to improve efficiency and conservation, said Eric Bergh, Calleguas’ manager of resources. The equipment is expected to save the district $100,000 in yearly maintenance and operations costs.
The project, to be completed in early 2006, should reduce water imports by about 5%, or enough to supply 12,000 households for a year, Bergh said.
In the last five years, the federal bureau has pledged to give Calleguas more than $20 million for recycling and water management projects.
Calleguas provides water through 23 retail water agencies to about 575,000 customers in Camarillo, Moorpark, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and surrounding unincorporated areas.
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