FREE Water Saving Equipment!
Here’s easy water conservation. Casitas Municipal Water District offers free water conservation devices to all residents living in the district’s wholesale service area, which includes most of the Ventura River watershed. The dashed line on the map below shows their service area, which includes the Ojai Valley, Upper Ojai, Meiners Oaks, Mira Monte, Casitas Springs, and Ventura’s Westside, as well as the Rincon area and the city of Ventura to about Mills Road.
The free devices available include low-flow (massage) showerheads, kitchen and bathroom faucet aerators (which slow the volume of water but keep the force), toilet flappers (which need to be replaced from time to time because they leak with age), and dye tablets (a quick way to test your toilet for leaks).
To get your free water saving equipment, just go to the district’s office at 1055 Ventura Avenue in Oak View between 8:00 am and 4:30 pm. (Limit 2 per household.) You’ll be asked to sign a register that includes your address.
Easy as that! Let’s spread the word.
June 5 Watershed Council Meeting will Include Information
on Groundwater Basin Status
Mark your calendars for the next Watershed Council meeting, which will be on June 5, 2014 from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm in the Topping Room of the Foster Library, 651 E. Main Street.
The agenda will include an update from Greg Schnaar, with Daniel B. Stephens & Associates, on the recently completed update to the Ojai Basin groundwater model, commissioned by the Ojai Basin Groundwater Management Agency (OBGMA).
The intent of the model is to provide OBGMA and other regional stakeholders with a groundwater management tool that can be used in the design and evaluation of management strategies.
The model consists of two components: 1) a distributed parameter watershed model to predict recharge from precipitation; and 2) a groundwater flow model that accounts for all groundwater inflow/outflows and simulates basin groundwater levels under varying scenarios.
To be most effective, models need to be updated and calibrated with real-world data.
The original model was developed in 2010. This model update includes calibration through the end of 2013, as well as improved estimates of recharge from turf and crop irrigation. The updated model is being used to evaluate how basin groundwater levels are expected to respond over the coming years to various drought scenarios.
As shown on the hydrograph above for the basin’s key monitoring well, groundwater levels in the basin are already as low as they have been since the 1960s. Model predictions indicate the basin may see groundwater levels approaching the historical lows of the 1950s if the drought continues.
Learn more at the June 5 Council meeting.
Council Charter Annual Review
Once a year the Watershed Council reviews its governance charter to see if any changes might be needed, and this review is scheduled for the June 5, 2014 Council meeting. Last year we did make refinements to the charter language and added some Leadership Committee members, but I have not heard from anyone so far this year that any changes are desired.
Here is the current charter. If you have any changes you’d like the Council to consider, please get those to me as soon as possible, but no later than May 27, 2014, so they can be circulated ahead of the meeting.
May 24, 3rd Annual Community Picnic at the Ventura River
The community is invited to a free picnic on the lower Ventura River on Saturday, May 24th from 11 am to 2 pm. This is the third annual picnic hosted by Friends of the Ventura River and Ventura Hillsides Conservancy (VHC) to help raise awareness of the Ventura River and the River Parkway.
The picnic will be held on VHC’s Willoughby Preserve in the Ventura River near downtown Ventura, which is a convenient access point and great place to showcase the progress made over the past few years. Walking tours will reveal the dramatic transformation that has occurred in the river because of the hundreds of tons of trash and debris, as well as invasive and thirsty Arundo donax, that have been removed.
This year’s event coincides with World Fish Migration Day, a global initiative to create awareness of the importance of open rivers and migratory fish. The opportunity will be used to highlight the endangered southern California steelhead’s life cycle and the efforts to remove Matilija Dam.
The event is open to the public and features guided tours of the river, informative displays, activities for children and a free picnic lunch.
Two Ventura River Watershed Projects to be Included
in Drought Emergency Funding Grant Proposal
The Watersheds Coalition of Ventura County (WCVC) met this week to determine the final projects that will be included in the WCVC’s countywide grant application for Proposition 84 Drought Emergency grant funding. Two of the Ventura River watershed’s proposed projects will be included in the grant proposal: 1) Ojai Valley Land Conservancy’s project to remove the invasive, thirsty Arundo donax from lower San Antonio Creek, and 2) Casitas Municipal Water District’s project for an aeration system in the lake to protect water supplies from water quality threats should the lake’s water drop below levels that current equipment can handle.
Thanks to all of those who brought project ideas forward, and to the good work of the Watershed Council’s WCVC Steering Committee representatives Greg Gamble and Russ Baggerly. Great work!