December Watershed Council Meeting Canceled
The December meeting of the Watershed Council has been canceled to allow for more focused work on the watershed management plan. I will however be contacting many of you individually and via small email groups to get your help with developing the plan. Please allocate some time to help with this in the coming weeks, especially if your projects/programs will be included in the Short-Term Action Plan.
San Antonio Creek Spreading Grounds Under Construction
Update provided by Elizabeth Martinez, Ventura County Watershed Protection District
Drilling recharge well.
The San Antonio Creek Spreading Grounds Rehabilitation Project is intended to increase groundwater storage and recharge in the Ojai Valley Groundwater Basin by rehabilitating existing infiltration ponds and constructing an intake structure, recharge pipeline, and four new passive percolation recharge wells adjacent to San Antonio Creek.
The project received $1,315,000 in grant funding from the State Water Resources Control Board through the Proposition 50 Integrated Regional Water Management Grant. In addition, the Ventura County Watershed Protection District was able to secure Proposition 84 Round 1 IRWM Implementation Grant funding of $500,000 from the State Department of Water Resources.
Construction on the project started on September 3, 2013. Work performed to date includes mobilization, staking, clearing/grubbing, access road and turnaround, pond scarification, pond 1 preparation for jacking, concreted riprap transfer channels and overflow channel, trenching for the recharge pipeline, and drilling the four recharge wells. Boring and jacking of the 36-inch steel casing for the recharge pipeline began in mid-November 2013.
Clearing and grubbing Pond 4.
Project construction is expected to be complete by the end of February 2014. Once operational, the project will capture up to 25 cubic feet per second of surface flow (when available) from San Antonio Creek to recharge the Ojai Valley Groundwater Basin and help augment the Ojai Valley’s water supply.
Here is a copy of this update with more photos.
New Documentary
Southern California Steelhead: Against All Odds
Cal Trout has produced a new documentary on the endangered southern California steelhead. Once numbering in the tens of thousands, these resilient fish are now on the brink of extinction. Included in the video are lots of nice shots from local streams including Matilija Creek and Ventura River. This video will be also accessible on the Council’s Video page soon.