OJAI VALLEY : Sewage District Seeks Treatment Plant

The Ojai Valley Sanitary District should build a new sewage treatment plant along the Ventura River, its manager says.

Faced with state orders to improve the quality of the waste water it dumps into the river by July, 1993, the district has spent a year studying how to upgrade its plant with a new filtration system.

Studies have concluded that it would almost be cheaper to buy another site and build a new plant, District Manager Eric Oltmann said.

Engineers estimated that it will cost $20 million to $27 million to improve the plant, located west of California 33 and Canada Larga Road. A new plant, including the purchase of a site, could run from $26 million to $47 million, Oltmann said.

Financing either project is expected to at least double monthly sewer fees, from $16 to $38, for 12,000 customers.

At some point, Oltmann said, income could be generated by selling the improved effluent as reclaimed waste water. Customers in line for the product include golf courses, oil companies and a proposed landfill in Weldon Canyon a mile east of the treatment plant.

The plant was built in 1963 on six acres that the agency leased from the city of Ventura for $1 a year, on the condition that Ventura can “take, use or dispose” of the waste water if it chooses. So far, the effluent has not met requirements to be sold as reclaimed water.

But Oltmann said the agency is looking at a new site, mainly because if would have to continue treating sewage while much of the old plant is being demolished.