Santa Barbara Channelkeeper’s advocacy for the Ventura River reached a milestone recently when the city of Ventura, for the first time, curtailed all pumping at its well field at Foster Park, specifically for the purpose of restoring flows to the parched river ecosystem. Within days, the sounds of water, croaking frogs, and children playing were audible as flows rebounded.
The cessation of pumping at Foster Park represents a significant achievement in Santa Barbara Channelkeeper’s ongoing efforts to protect the Ventura River. For several decades, unlimited pumping at Foster Park at times resulted in degraded downstream water quality and public trust resources, and the destruction of endangered species habitat.
In an effort to restore flows to the river, Channelkeeper filed a groundbreaking lawsuit in 2015 to challenge the city’s over-pumping. After years of legal proceedings and negotiations, Channelkeeper and the city of Ventura reached a partial settlement that established a minimum river flow threshold that would trigger cessation of pumping.
This summer, when flows reached those benchmarked levels, the city ceased all pumping, marking a positive step forward for the health of the river, its ecosystems, and the surrounding community.
Despite this positive step, flow thresholds still fall below recently published recommendations from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and may need to be modified in the future to fully protect the river and endangered species.
Today, as California and the western U.S. experience record-breaking drought conditions, a secure and sustainable water supply is on people’s minds.
In addition to the ecological value it provides, the Ventura River is a primary source of drinking water, providing all water used in the Ojai Basin and the Ventura River valley. The river is also culturally significant, providing access to nature and recreational opportunities for surrounding communities.
When the river goes dry, it indicates human use is exceeding the capacity of a limited resource in ways that are detrimental and unsustainable. A thriving river indicates a sustainable water future.
“Our water supplies are severely limited, and unfortunately it does not appear that conditions will improve in the near future,” said Benjamin Pitterle, Channelkeeper’s science and policy director. “It’s critical that we include our precious ecosystems in the final balance of how we manage our water resources.”
Channelkeeper’s legal action against Ventura is pending as the city carries out a water adjudication involving all water right holders in the watershed. The adjudication will allocate available water supplies to existing water right-holders as well as identify a “physical solution” that should fully and permanently protect flows in the Ventura River.
Until the adjudication is finalized, Channelkeeper’s settlement agreement is all that keeps the Ventura River flowing.
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper was founded in 1999 as a program of the Environmental Defense Center and became an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2001. Channelkeeper has worked to protect water quality, restore aquatic ecosystems, advocate for clean water, enforce environmental laws, and educate citizens in implementing solutions to water pollution and aquatic habitat degradation.
For more, visit www.sbck.org.