Ventura council approves wastewater settlement
Toni Biasotti
Ventura County Star
12/13/2011
The Ventura City Council approved a legal settlement Monday that could cost the city as much as $55 million and let it recycle millions of gallons a day of treated wastewater.
The settlement puts to rest a lawsuit filed last year by the Wishtoyo Foundation and its Ventura Coastkeeper program, as well as a state regulatory appeal brought by another environmental group, Heal the Bay. The two groups allege that the city's sewage treatment plant near the mouth of the Santa Clara River releases too much water with inadequate treatment into the river estuary.
Under the agreement, the city will reuse at least half, and perhaps all, of its treated effluent. The necessary improvements to the sewer plant are capped at $55 million, money that will come from increases to Ventura residents' sewer bills.
The council voted 6-1 to approve the settlement. Councilman Jim Monahan voted no, indicating he would rather see the city fight the lawsuit. "Ventura has deep pockets," he said.
But the rest of the council agreed with the city's attorneys and top managers when they said it would probably be more expensive to fight than to settle. The result could be a court-ordered plan that's costlier than the one negotiated.
"I think the odds of the city prevailing in any litigation are very small," City Attorney Ariel Calonne told the council. One reason, he said, is that the city has exceeded pollution limits in the past, though the water being discharged now meets state standards.
The terms of the settlement mean the sewer bills of Ventura customers will go up by about $3.50 a month for homes and a similar amount for small businesses, starting in a few years, said Shana Epstein, director of the city's water department.
The city discharges about 9 million gallons a day of effluent, or treated wastewater, into the estuary where the Santa Clara River meets the ocean. It only recycles about 3 percent of its wastewater, selling it to a different city department to water city golf courses.
The settlement calls for the city to build new infrastructure by 2025 that will allow it to pump the water away and either sell it for landscaping irrigation or use it to replenish groundwater on the Oxnard Plain.
"The water is very valuable and it's a crying shame we flush it into the ocean," City Manager Rick Cole said. "Nine million gallons a day to irrigate parks or Ivy Lawn cemetery would be a huge value to the community. The problem is getting it to the parks or the cemetery."
Councilwoman Christy Weir said reusing more water is "a smart decision, environmentally and fiscally."
