Oil and Water : Texaco Ships Annual Supply of the Cool, Clear Stuff to Arid Islands

While inland communities continued to suffer from rising water rates and shortages brought on by the drought, Anacapa and Santa Barbara islands received their entire annual supply of the wet stuff for free Wednesday.

Texaco Exploration and Production Inc. of Ventura chartered a boat and provided the sole source of water for the few National Park Service employees living on the islands off the Ventura County coast. Overnight campers must bring their own.

Texaco bought 40,000 gallons of water from the Oxnard Harbor District for about $100 and pumped it into tanks on the Toby Tide, a 180-foot oil-rig supply boat, said Andy Bressler, offshore area manager for Texaco’s Ventura office.

The park service had asked for 80,000 gallons, the same amount the islands received last year. But Bressler said Texaco could only find enough water tanks to transport half that much.

Santa Barbara Island received 8,000 gallons early Wednesday, and Anacapa got 32,000 gallons later in the day.

At Anacapa, the water was pumped off the Toby Tide into a church-like structure 200 feet up a rocky cliff. Two 55,000-gallon redwood tanks are housed in the structure, which was erected after World War II to protect the tanks from recreational gunmen who shot them full of holes.

“People don’t normally shoot at a church, so it worked,” said Bob Harmuth, director of operations for the Oxnard Harbor District.

Water used to be delivered to Anacapa Island by the U.S. Navy, said Harmuth, who has worked for the harbor district for almost 20 years.

But Texaco has taken over the service as a goodwill gesture, company officials say.

“It helps the park service out,” Bressler said. “It’s one of those things we enjoy supporting.”

And park service officials say Texaco’s $10,000 donation of time and resources allows them to use the funds for other services.

“Without the help of Texaco, the park service could not provide the level of . . . service that it does at Channel Islands,” said Mack Shaver, superintendent of Channel Islands National Park. That park includes five of the eight Channel Islands, including Anacapa and Santa Barbara.

Water historically has been so scarce on the island that, in 1932, the park service tried building a cement slab to catch dew and rain. But that notion failed when “every sea gull in the channel perched there,” Harmuth said. It now serves as a helicopter pad.

Texaco is not the only oil company trying to improve its image by giving back to the environment. Gary Shiohama, media relations coordinator for the Western States Petroleum Assn., said Chevron USA Inc. has begun a program to preserve the rare kit fox and the El Segundo blue butterfly.

“It’s goodwill,” he said of Texaco’s and Chevron’s actions. “We take from the environment. We also want to show our neighbors that we can be good neighbors, and sometimes we are in a position . . . to use some of our resources to help the community and our environment.”