City researching options to fix water shortage at Knolls
Specific recommendation yet to be made
By Darleen Principe darleen@theacorn.com

Officials from the local Waterworks District No. 8 are currently conducting studies of the water shortage in the Santa Susana Knolls and plan to discuss their findings at a meeting of the Simi Valley City Council in mid-June.

The district, which is operated by the City Council, enacted a water moratorium in the Knolls service area south of the railroad tracks in March- which temporarily prohibits the issuance of will-serve letters to property owners seeking to build new homes in the area.

City Manager Mike Sedell said city staff had planned to discuss the deficiency of the 126,000-gallon Alta Vista tank last week but did not finish the studies in time for the May 5 meeting.

"We've got to look at all the options," Sedell said. "The district already has money set aside for replacement tanks, but it's still a matter of engineering and safety. We can't bring options to the City Council until we're through with that analysis."

In a city memorandum dated Feb. 29, Tim Nanson, former director of public works, stated that the Alta Vista tank is approximately 4,000 gallons below Ventura County's updated requirement for domestic, emergency and fire storage demands for the service area.

The water district planned to replace the tank with a 1million-gallon facility at a higher elevation in fiscal year 2011-12, as part of the upcoming waterworks Capital Improvement Program, but will instead attempt to accelerate the schedule to complete construction of the new tank in fiscal year 2009-10.

In the meantime, district officials are studying the issue to come up with an effective interim solution.

As of this week, city staff had not yet made a specific recommendation, Sedell said.

Councilmember Glen Becerra said he thinks public safety is foremost in all the council's decision-making and that holding off on adding any new water connections was the appropriate move.

"When we identified this problem, we had to put a stop to things currently," Becerra said.

"We're not saying that you can't build ever," we're just saying, 'Let us address this issue so we're not putting the people who currently live in the Knolls at risk.'

"I would hate to think that folks up there are saying we're not looking out for them, because we are. I think that setting aside the resources to address this problem already says that we were being responsible and looking out for that area," Becerra said.

He is confident that city staff will make the appropriate recommendations once the studies are complete, he said.

According to Ron Fuchiwaki, director of public works, a smaller tank- with a capacity of 27,000 gallons- was removed from the Alta Vista tank site in 2001 because it was severely damaged and leaking.

"The engineers have indicated that the actual supply (of the smaller tank) was not significant," Fuchiwaki said.

"It didn't really function to its full capacity because of the height of the tank, the location, etc."

Fuchiwaki said the 27,000gallon tank was not replaced right away because the district was waiting for an updated water master plan. Also, it may have been encroaching on private property.

"There was no more room to replace that tank in that location," he said. "The terrain of that area is really hilly. It may not be a good place to put in another tank without purchasing additional property or having to meet significant construction requirements."

City staffers hope to discuss the issue June 11 at a special City Council meeting, Sedell said.