Calleguas Municipal Water District

Oxnard resident Patrick Miller who now serves as president of the Calleguas Municipal Water District has been elected a vice chairman of the agency's parent supplier, the giant Metropolitan Water District. Miller, 61, was elected to his new position Feb. 9, with his term running through the end of the year. He has been a member of the Metropolitan Water District board of directors since 1990.

Hoping to reduce its dependence on water from Northern California, the Calleguas Municipal Water District is seeking approval for the next phase of a 32-mile "brine line" that will carry salt discharges from treatment plants in eastern Ventura County and thereby improve the quality of groundwater supplies used by farmers.

The county's largest water supplier, Calleguas Municipal Water District, recently picked up two national awards for innovation in public works projects. The American Public Works Assn. is recognizing Calleguas for the district's construction of a $25-million water-treatment facility at its Lake Bard reservoir. The plant's disinfection process removes microorganisms such as giardia and other viruses using ozone gas injections to oxidize impurities in the water.

The federal government's water czar visited Thousand Oaks on Wednesday to present a $300,000 check to the Calleguas Municipal Water District for its efforts to improve water distribution and reduce importation. John Keys, who heads the Bureau of Reclamation, the nation's largest wholesale water supplier, presented Calleguas with the grant money to help pay for a $3.4-million project to modernize the district's monitoring equipment.

A program to create a giant below-ground reservoir won Ventura County's largest water district statewide recognition, with Calleguas Municipal Water District receiving the Water Resources Leadership Award. The California Water Resources Assn. is expected to present Calleguas board President Patrick Miller and General Manager Don Kendall with the award today at the association's annual meeting in San Diego. "We were very surprised and proud," Kendall said Wednesday.

Squeezed between a financially strapped Legislature and an ambitious building program of its own, the Calleguas Municipal Water District may impose a $10 parcel tax, increase fees for new construction and raise other levies, officials said Tuesday. Those higher fees would be in addition to a parcel tax and a water rate increase imposed by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, from which Calleguas buys its water.

The federal government's water czar visited Thousand Oaks on Wednesday to present a $300,000 check to the Calleguas Municipal Water District for its efforts to improve water distribution and reduce importation. John Keys, who heads the Bureau of Reclamation, the nation's largest wholesale water supplier, presented Calleguas with the grant money to help pay for a $3.4-million project to modernize the district's monitoring equipment.

The water district serving most of east Ventura County has begun to study building a $50-million pipeline from Simi Valley to the Pacific Ocean that officials hope will improve the quality of water used by farmers, and open new and cheaper supplies of drinking water for residents. The so-called brine line--the first of its kind in Ventura County--would help ensure reliable supplies of drinking water while complying with new federal mandates on salt content, district officials said.

The Calleguas Municipal Water District, which had dragged its feet before starting construction of a state-mandated filtration plant at Bard Reservoir, lost another two months of construction time due to recent storms and now expects to open the $35-million plant one year past a state deadline, officials said. The plant is now scheduled to open in June, 1994, said Don Kendall, the district's general manager. "Come June of 1993, we will not be in compliance," Kendall said.

James A. Hubert, general manager of the Calleguas Municipal Water District, will retire May 1 to spend more time with his family and friends. Hubert, 62, said he also plans to fish, golf and visit his hometown of Tomah, Wis. "I want to get on with something else," he said. Hubert, the district's fourth general manager, announced his resignation at a Jan. 8 board meeting. Calleguas directors will form a three-member panel to select his replacement.

The water district serving most of east Ventura County has begun to study building a $50-million pipeline from Simi Valley to the Pacific Ocean that officials hope will improve the quality of water used by farmers and open up new and cheaper supplies of drinking water for residents. Calleguas Municipal Water District officials said the 30-mile pipeline would carry salt discharges from yet-to-be-built treatment plants in the east county.

The water district serving most of east Ventura County has begun to study building a $50-million pipeline from Simi Valley to the Pacific Ocean that officials hope will improve the quality of water used by farmers, and open new and cheaper supplies of drinking water for residents. The so-called brine line--the first of its kind in Ventura County--would help ensure reliable supplies of drinking water while complying with new federal mandates on salt content, district officials said.

Most Ventura County residents are likely to pay less for their water when a new price structure approved by the giant Metropolitan Water District in Los Angeles kicks in next year. Officials said that under the new structure approved in April, the MWD will require its 27 member agencies to buy a set amount of water over a five-year period, spreading the cost of water more evenly among all agencies.

It will be Ventura County's largest body of water, a little bigger than Lake Casitas and more than four times the volume of Lake Piru, but don't make any plans to haul out the boat and fishing tackle. This one is underground. After more than a decade of research and development, the Calleguas Municipal Water District today will officially open the first phase of its massive water storage project in Las Posas Basin.

Looming high above one of this city's swankiest neighborhoods, Bard Reservoir has long been the source of much speculation and worry. What if--residents of Wood Ranch have been known to ask--that earthen dam fails? Will it unleash a torrent of water over our posh homes, beloved families and graceful landscaping? Is it vulnerable to the Big One? In a word: No.

The county's largest water supplier, Calleguas Municipal Water District, recently picked up two national awards for innovation in public works projects. The American Public Works Assn. is recognizing Calleguas for the district's construction of a $25-million water-treatment facility at its Lake Bard reservoir. The plant's disinfection process removes microorganisms such as giardia and other viruses using ozone gas injections to oxidize impurities in the water.

The Calleguas Municipal Water District saved nearly $3 million when it refinanced a filtration plant and other projects that will help "drought-proof" the district, General Manager Don Kendall said Monday. Kendall said the refinancing, which occurred Thursday, is akin to a homeowner refinancing the house to get a better rate on the mortgage in today's low-interest market. "The board has made a pledge that Calleguas will not raise our water rates until after the year 2000.

Two projects planned by the Calleguas Municipal Water District could ensure a reliable water supply during the continuing drought or a natural disaster, district officials said. The projects are part of $182 million in improvements that the district expects to make over the next 10 years, General Manager Jim Hubert said. The first project will include drilling five wells in the Las Posas Basin to draw water during the winter months and store it for use during the summer.

Hydrologist Mark Wuttig spent Friday sitting in the middle of a citrus orchard near Moorpark studying the contents of 130 plastic Baggies bulging with assorted types of mud. He had bags full of yellowish dirt, thick gray dirt and best of all--at least from the point of view of a hydrologist digging a well--bags full of loose, pebbly earth oozing with water. A few feet from Wuttig, construction crews were drilling a rather unusual kind of well.

A program to create a giant below-ground reservoir won Ventura County's largest water district statewide recognition, with Calleguas Municipal Water District receiving the Water Resources Leadership Award. The California Water Resources Assn. is expected to present Calleguas board President Patrick Miller and General Manager Don Kendall with the award today at the association's annual meeting in San Diego. "We were very surprised and proud," Kendall said Wednesday.