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Water boards: Arguably the toughest job in time of drought [Ventura County Star, Calif.]
[October 05, 2014]

Water boards: Arguably the toughest job in time of drought [Ventura County Star, Calif.]


(Ventura County Star (CA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Oct. 05--In this drought-stricken state, could there be an issue as talked about and fiercely debated as water? That isn't stopping residents from wanting to stay in or get right into the complicated issues of three water agencies, ranging from ensuring water is available for more than 20,000 homes to considering how to get rid of invasive quagga mussels.



Here's a look at three contested races in the Castaic, Calleguas and United water districts: Castaic Lake Water Agency: Castaic Lake Water Agency, a water wholesaler, provides about half of the water used by Santa Clarita Valley residents and businesses. Per its website, it operates three treatment plants, three pump stations, three storage facilities and more than 45 miles of transmission pipelines.

Three candidates are running for two seats on the board in the Nov. 4 election.


Tom Campbell, 47, joined the board in 2001 and is in his second year as board president, the second time he's held that role. Campbell is a civil engineer and a project manager for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Campbell cites as a success winning a lawsuit that forced the owners of a former industrial site to clean up contaminated aquifers at no cost to the taxpayers.

He said the diverse water sources that make up the agency's portfolio have put the region in a good position.

"We currently have three to five years banked in the ground available to us for dry years like this," he said.

Though the county and city make land-use decisions, his agency coordinates with those entities to ensure there's enough water for approved projects, Campbell said.

That includes the planned construction of about 20,000 homes at Newhall Ranch, he said.

Stacy Fortner, 45, is a senior account executive with Epoch Universal, which provides information technology services to small and large businesses. With a degree in business management, Fortner said she is familiar with budgets and contracts. She has no plans for "rubber-stamping everything," she said, and wants to be a "watchdog." Fortner was critical of Castaic's 2012 acquisition of Valencia Water Co., a subsidiary of Newhall Land, the developer of Newhall Ranch.

The public was given 24 hours' notice before the decision was made, she said. The board needs more transparency, Fortner said.

"The whole acquisition of Valencia Water was to benefit special interests," she said.

Campbell said the board gave only a day's notice to avoid getting into a bidding war with a competing public agency that had expressed interest in buying Valencia.

The move turned a private company into a public agency governed by a locally elected board, "the definition of transparency," he said.

Gary Martin, a civil and structural engineer, was appointed to the agency board in February 2013, selected from 12 candidates. The seat opened up when Castaic acquired Valencia.

Martin is director of engineering at the Mojave Water Agency, from which he plans to retire after 17 years early next year.

Martin, 66, recalled that when he first moved to the area in 1978, Santa Clarita relied solely on groundwater. Today, just half of the water comes from groundwater and the rest comes from the state and other banking/transfer agreements.

"The most important thing we can do to address recurring drought is shore up water reliability and keep a diversified water portfolio," he said.

Under its urban water management plan, the agency has water in place to provide for the full build-out of the valley, including Newhall Ranch, he said.

Calleguas Municipal Water District Division 4: Calleguas Water District imports and distributes water from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to roughly 630,000 users in Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Camarillo, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Naval Base Ventura County and some unincorporated parts of the county.

Two candidates are running for one seat on the district board.

Jim Estomo, 67, was appointed to the board of the Channel Islands Beach Community Services District in 2011. The district assists residents with water, sewer and trash services.

Calleguas could help the region get a better handle on future development and water needs, Estomo said.

As a wholesaler that "supplies half the county, they're in a great position to really open up that discussion," he said.

He said there needs to be more conversation on developing future sources of water and a realistic approach about the time, expense and trade-offs that come with alternative sources, including desalination plants.

Andres Santamaria, 69, was appointed to the district in March. He retired in 2013 after 10 years as the city of Port Hueneme's public works director. A civil and traffic engineer, Santamaria is a founding member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.

As a member of the district's engineering and construction committee, he is helping prioritize the capital program for the next five to 10 years.

"You only have so much staff and so much money, and you have to focus on systems that will provide the best bang for the buck," he said.

For now, most of the emphasis is moving forward with the salinity management pipeline to help treat brackish water.

The board also set aside an additional $1 million last month to encourage users to move away from water-needy turf. Calleguas offers a $1 rebate for every square foot of turf removed.

United Water Conservation District Division 1: United Water Conservation District manages groundwater supplies for Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Ventura, Santa Paula and Fillmore, as well as farms, individual pumpers and other water districts. It also provides surface water for agricultural irrigation and drinking water to Oxnard and Port Hueneme.

Two candidates are running for one seat on the district board.

Incumbent Ed McFadden III, who grows citrus and avocados on 460 acres in the Bardsdale area, was appointed to the board in February.

"I'm completely dependent on water. I'm very, very concerned about the way things are going and I'd like to do anything to conserve and protect the aquifers in the county," he said.

McFadden has been surprised to see how much of the board's time is spent on legal actions -- the city of Ventura sued United over its water rate increases -- and on studies and plans associated with restoring steelhead trout.

If he remains on the board, he said he will continue working toward enhancing aquifers, a brackish water treatment feasibility study and finding new water resources.

"We can't mine the water to the bedrock and just run out," he said.

McFadden, 57, said the invasive quagga mussels have remained differently in Lake Piru than in other places and said they will be a "very difficult problem to solve." Moira Barron, who lives in unincorporated Piru, spent seven years working for the Ojai Valley Sanitary District and before that, three years with United as an accounting technician.

From January 2010 to November 2012, when she moved out of the area, Barron was on the board for the Meiners Oaks Water District.

"United Water's a very beneficial agency to the county, and I think I would like to see it move forward as a water conservation district," she said.

Barron, 56, said she works well with others, a skill set that would be valuable because of all the government and nongovernment agencies with which United works. It will be necessary as United works to deal with the quagga mussel issue, she said.

Drought awareness and education are also important, she said.

As for United's lawsuit with Ventura, Barron favors the lawyers getting out of the room and all sitting down to reach agreement on rates.

"There needs to be a proper dialogue," Barron said.

___ (c)2014 Ventura County Star (Camarillo, Calif.) Visit Ventura County Star (Camarillo, Calif.) at www.vcstar.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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