Not enough water for the Knolls
Water district puts a stop on new service requests
By Darleen Principe darleen@theacorn.com

WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers SHORTAGE- The Alta Vista tank, which supplies water to the Santa Susana Knolls, is 4,000 gallons below the county's requirement for domestic, emergency and fire storage demands.

Property owners in the Santa Susana Knolls may not be permitted to build any new construction projects for the next two years, due to a recent "water service moratorium" declared by the local Waterworks District No. 8.

Tim Nanson, director of public works, stated in a memorandum dated Feb. 29 that the Alta Vista water tank- which has a capacity of 126,000 gallons at an elevation of 1,404 feet- is 4,000 gallons below Ventura County's updated requirement for domestic, emergency and fire storage demands in the Knolls service area south of the railroad tracks.

"Reviewing even the lowest fire standard, there is at times of the day, likely less than 60,000 gallons of required fire storage remaining in the tank," the memorandum read. "The current tank does not accommodate the minimum fire storage required by the county for rural single-family residential areas."

The moratorium, which was enacted last month, prevents the district from granting "will serve" notices for water service to Knolls property owners planning to do new construction in the near future, and will stay in place until additional water storage facilities are built to meet the requirements.

Domestic water use by current customers in the Knolls will not be affected, Nanson said.

Still, Larry Williams, fire prevention supervisor with the Ventura County Fire Department, said that the worst-case scenario regarding the shortage is that the tank may run out of water too quickly in the event of a large fire in the area.

"Basically, they need to get something more over there soon, because right now they're not meeting the requirements," Williams said.

The district planned to replace the Alta Vista tank with a 1milliongallon facility at a higher elevation in fiscal year 2011-12, as part of the upcoming waterworks Capital Improvement Program. Nanson told the Simi Valley Acorn this week that district staff will attempt to accelerate the schedule in order to complete construction of the new tank in fiscal year 2009-10.

"We did plan for it," Nanson said. "We had it on the books to go in and update service in that area within five years. But based on the most current results (from the county), we were short by a couple of years.

"We don't offer any excuses for that, but this has not been an area where hundreds of homes go up at one time . . . where you're constantly reviewing and re-reviewing the system's ability to provide water. It crept up."

Sandy Capaldi, president of the Santa Susana Knolls Homeowners Association, told the Acorn on Tuesday that residents in the area have been concerned about the status of the tank "for years now."

"The tank ran dry a couple of times a few years ago," Capaldi said. "You would turn your faucet on and get nothing, but we haven't had that problem (lately). It happened around the time after the fires."

Nanson said that the 2005 Simi Valley and Chatsworth fires melted a major water service pipe that ran aboveground leading up to the tank. Several power lines also failed, causing a temporary halt in water service. The damage caused by the fire prompted district officials to review the status of the water system several months earlier than they had planned, he said.

The district, which is operated by the city of Simi Valley, will continue to meet with the county and Knolls property owners to try and come up with an effective shortterm solution to the problem before the new tank is built.

Nanson said their options include increasing the size of the piping supplying the tank and putting in an additional water pump so that enough water will be available in case of a fire. The district might also build a second tank at a lower elevation and install a backup power system in case main electrical lines fail again.

"We're looking at as many solutions as we can find in the interim that may allow people who are already well into their grading operations to actually go in and construct their homes," he said.

According to Nanson, there are fewer than a dozen property owners who've already obtained grading permits from the county who cannot begin construction without a "will serve" letter from the district.

Ventura County Supervisor Peter Foy told the Acorn that he agreed with the district's decision to stop granting "will serve" notices.

"Our goal here is to ensure the safety of the residents of the county (who already live in the Knolls)," Foy said. "It's a very difficult decision to shut down someone else who purchased property, started working on the lot, or started to build. But my goal here is just to make sure we protect the people of that area."

Foy said he doesn't blame the district for not catching the shortage sooner.

"It's one of the things we've talked about," he said. "All of a sudden there was big growth, and water districts have their regular routine times in checking water management.

"They're doing a very good job to speed this up."

The City Council will disuss the issue at its May 5 meeting.