OJAI : Plan to Form Water Agency Discussed

Ojai-area water officials debated Wednesday a proposal by the Casitas Municipal Water District to form a new water agency to oversee pumping, sales and replenishment of ground water that underlies the city of Ojai and the eastern Ojai Valley.

The plan, which is also sponsored by the city of Ojai and the Ojai Water Conservation District, would create a new water authority by the end of the year.

Backers say the new agency is needed especially to prevent over-pumping of the water basin.

But, at Wednesday’s meeting in Oak View, a private water company that supplies the city of Ojai with 80% of its water said there is no proof that the local water table is falling.

Casitas General Manager John Johnson warned that there could be short supplies of well water in the immediate future unless controls are placed on companies and ranchers who draw large amounts of water from the basin.

“Without management, it’s a free-for-all out there,” Johnson said. “Anyone can go in and draw out all the water they want.”

But Tom Bunosky, an officer at Southern California Water Co., which supplies most of the city of Ojai’s water from wells, questioned whether the water in the basin is being depleted. His company’s wells are drawing plenty of water, he said.

“It depends on whose ox is being gored,” replied citrus grower Tom Munzig. The water company’s wells are in the center of the valley, while many ranchers’ wells are on hillsides and historically have dried up first.

Those who attended the meeting--25 water officials, attorneys and ranchers--said they will continue to meet each week through March.