Calleguas aquifer like 'water in the bank'

Those of us who live in east Ventura County can be thankful that the Calleguas Municipal Water District took a major step in the 1990s toward improving the local water storage situation.

A large aquifer north of Moorpark and Camarillo was found to be available for use and Calleguas, along with the Metropolitan Water District, decided the location would be an advantageous place to store drinking water.

The Las Posas Aquifer, which is 18 miles long and 4.5 miles wide, can today hold up to 300,000 acrefeet of water, enough to supply 600,000 families for a year. Due to drought conditions, however, there were only about 90,000 acre-feet in the aquifer last month, said Eric Bergh, Calleguas spokesperson.

Experts say the Las Posas Aquifer is like having "water in the bank," and is important to the area's residents because it means less water has to be imported from northern California. If problems arise obtaining supplies from the State Water Project, the aquifer becomes an excellent back-up source.

Difficulty in obtaining water from the north stems from a recent court ruling that limits the exporting of Sacramento Delta water to certain times of the year in order to preserve fish populations in the region.

But even with the Las Posas Aquifer—and the Calleguas reservoir at Lake Bard in Simi Valley— area residents may soon face mandatory water rationing. Time will tell.

Calleguas is a wholesale dealer that distributes drinking water to the local East County water districts. The agency works behind the scenes daily to supply water to almost 600,000 area residents.

Orkney is an Oak Park resident and a member of the Triunfo Sanitation District Board of Directors. Her opinions do not reflect those of the Triunfo board.