Interior Secretary Deb Haaland visits Ventura water treatment project
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland made a journey to Ventura on Friday to learn more about a planned water treatment facility and tout its importance for the future of the city's water supply.
Haaland said facilities like VenturaWaterPure help create a locally owned, drought-resilient water source that isn't dependent on rainfall. She visited Marina Park with Michael Brain, the Interior Department's principal deputy assistant secretary for water and science.
When complete, Ventura's facility will recover, treat and recycle wastewater and reduce discharges of effluent into the Santa Clara River estuary.
"Through the VenturaWaterPure program, water will be treated to drinking water standards and then injected in a local basin for storage, helping to build community resilience to climate change for generations to come," Haaland said.
Friday's event brought the federal officials to Ventura as they touted President Joe Biden's Investing in America agenda.
An ocean outfall project, showcased Friday at the seaside park off Pierpont Boulevard, will be used to dispose of concentrate generated by the advanced water purification facility. The treatment plant is projected to provide up to 20% of the city’s water supply when fully operational.
The outfall will also divert wet weather flows that exceed treatment capacity and provide for emergency backup disposal, city materials say.
The outfall project construction area is surrounded by a beige-colored sound wall at Marina Park, located on the north side of Ventura Harbor. Inside the temporary sound wall, which is meant to lessen community impacts, a pipeline is being pushed through a hole that ends about 4,500 feet offshore. The pipe will continue along the ocean floor until it reaches a water depth of about 50 feet nearly 6,800 feet offshore, or about 1.25 miles.
"This is huge," said Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, who welcomed the Interior Department officials to the local park. Carbajal's district includes residents in the Ventura and Ojai areas.
The Marina Park portion of the treatment facility is expected to be completed by Memorial Day, said Linda Sumansky, program director for VenturaWaterPure. Work in the ocean will likely continue through July, .
Costs for the overall water treatment project had been pegged at $374.7 million during the 2022 fiscal year. The latest estimate, discussed during a Nov. 13 update at a City Council meeting, is $556.9 million.
The new figure marks a projected jump of $182.2 million, or about 48.6%.
The higher price tag enables the city to qualify for federal Bureau of Reclamation Water grants worth $125 million through a program for projects costing $500 million or more. The city has already received federal funding for VenturaWaterPure with a recent loan totaling $174 million that was announced in May.
The city applied for an $83 million grant from the bureau and should get a response in January or February, Sumansky said
Inflation over the past two years increased the overall cost of the water treatment project by $49 million to $89 million, depending on the data source, a November staff report said. In addition, some components now deemed necessary were added, raising the price tag.
Bids came in 35% higher than budgeted, Sumansky said. Other contributors were project design and other costs being underestimated.
The VenturaWaterPure program is a result of a 2012 legal settlement with Wishtoyo Foundation’s Ventura Coastkeeper Program and Heal the Bay over discharges into the Santa Clara River estuary. The estuary provides habitat for the Southern California steelhead trout, the tidewater goby and the southwestern willow flycatcher.
The project includes a membrane bioreactor that uses ultraviolet light to ensure compliance with the settlement and discharge regulations.
The membrane bioreactor is a part of a wastewater capital improvement plan, but because of its benefits to VenturaWaterPure and timing for completion, it is being designed and constructed under the umbrella of the water purification project, said Heather Sumagaysay, Ventura spokesperson, in an email Friday.
On Monday night, the City Council will discuss the impact of the VenturaWaterPure cost increase on ratepayers during a project update. The council's regular meeting starts at 6 p.m. in City Hall, 501 Poli St.
For more information on the project, visit cityofventura.ca.gov/VenturaWaterPure.
Wes Woods II covers West County for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at wesley.woodsii@vcstar.com, 805-437-0262 or @JournoWes.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Interior Secretary Deb Haaland visits Ventura water treatment project
