Study Urges Reclaimed Water Use

A report to be presented to Ventura County supervisors today recommends that cities and industry in the county and statewide use more reclaimed sewage water to irrigate lawns and golf courses.

The report, issued by the Southern California Water Committee, which is chaired by Supervisor John K. Flynn, also recommends that the state authorize a $1-billion bond issue to upgrade sewage treatment plants and to finance pipelines to distribute the treated water.

The Board of Supervisors is not expected to take action on the report, which Flynn submitted as information only.

Cities and water districts are encouraged in the report to adopt so-called “best-management practices” ensuring that every feasible effort is being taken to conserve water.

Representatives of cities and water agencies from Northern and Southern California developed the report, but Flynn said its recommendations are particularly applicable in Ventura County where only 10% of the treated sewage water is being reclaimed.

“Oxnard alone uses 500 acre-feet a year of fresh drinking water on its golf course,” Flynn said. “We should be using reclaimed water for golf courses, football fields, highway medians and lawns.”

But John Johnson, general manager of the Casitas Municipal Water District, said an evaluation by his district shows that much of the county’s treated sewage water already is being used. Plus, he said, additional studies are under way in two cities to determine whether treated sewage water can be used economically.

Johnson said treated sewage water discharged into rivers and creeks by Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Santa Paula and Fillmore is reclaimed by downstream users. In Ventura, about half the treated water is used to keep a minimum flow of water in the Santa Clara River estuary, officials said.

Ventura also uses about 1,000 acre-feet a year of treated sewage water to irrigate a golf course, officials said.

In Thousand Oaks, the Hill Canyon plant treats sewage at the tertiary or highest treatment level before it discharges 13,000 acre-feet of water annually into a creek. The city is negotiating to sell 10,000 acre-feet to the Pleasant Valley County Water District and the Camrosa Water District, officials said.

But growers downstream now depend on that water to recharge the ground-water basins from which they pump, Johnson said.

“The question is whether you’re really creating a new source of water or just robbing Peter to pay Paul, forcing those who have come to depend on the water to find another source.”

Gina Manchester, general manager at the Camrosa Water District that serves parts of Camarillo and the Santa Rosa Valley, agreed that much of the county is already working to reuse water.

Camrosa is working on a new plan to deliver to farmers water that is too high in nitrates to drink. And the district already has best-management practices in place, she said.

“Our long-term goals have always been to protect our local water supplies and to provide for municipal and industrial as well as agricultural use.”

Simi Valley is studying how to use its treated sewage water and Oxnard is evaluating whether it can use about 22,000 acre-feet of water that it now discharges to the ocean each year.

But Oxnard would first have to spend about $10 million to upgrade its treatment to the highest level, officials said. And the water would still require additional treatment because of its high salt content, said Joe Yurko, assistant director of public works.

“If we wanted to provide reclaimed water to our golf course, it would have to be piped five to seven miles,” Yurko said. This would be a “multimillion-dollar system,” he said.

The United Water Conservation District, which supplies part of the water used by Fillmore, Santa Paula, Oxnard, Port Hueneme and Ventura, has negotiated a deal with the city of Stockton to buy rights to up to 20,000 acre-feet of treated sewage water each year.

Flynn is right that the county needs more water sources to supply county residents with enough water in coming years, said Frederick Gientke, United’s general manager.

“We have reached the brink of water bankruptcy,” Gientke said. “The demand has exceeded the supply.”