Agencies face dam dilemma
By Jesse Phelps

Six million cubic yards of mud, silt and rocks, piled high in the reservoir behind the Matilija Dam, have county government and local agencies in a quandary.

According to Ventura County Supervisor Steve Bennett, the materials in the reservoir represent an entire set of hurdles to be faced by a collective of government officials, nonprofit agencies and concerned citizens working together to find a way to bring down the dam.

The dam's removal is key to the attempt to bring back Southern California steelhead to their traditional spawning grounds in the highlands of the Ventura River channel. The installation of the much-debated fish passage at Robles Diversion will make it possible for the fish to enjoy a larger stretch of the river, but without removal of the Matilija Dam, much of the river channel remains inaccessible to them.

In the interest of bringing back the fish, the county has been working with all interested parties to find any mutually agreeable solution to the problems caused by the buildup behind the dam.
Most likely, Bennett said, the county will work with the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation to stabilize the coarser materials, such as rocks and boulders. "The tentative plan is stabilization of some degree," he said. "The question is whether you temporarily or permanently stabilize."
Bennett was not sure how this would be accomplished. Nobody could be reached who could detail the specifics of how the sediment materials might be stabilized.

Meanwhile, the "fines," or smaller pebbles and silt, will be slurried down a pipeline to a predetermined location, where they would be collected and stored.

But where will the basin be? In a recent presentation to the board of directors of the Casitas Municipal Water District, Bennett pointed to a 95-acre area next to Rice Rd, adjacent to the Ventura River preserve. The wooded river-bottom property, next to a preserve currently managed by the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy, would become an enormous 15-20 foot deep siltation basin, surrounded by large walls.

Bennett said last week that this is not the only possible location, but in his presentation to Casitas, he intimated that it was the preferred option. It would necessitate a bypass be built at the diversion dam, which pipes water from the river to Lake Casitas, for disbursal to Casitas Municipal Water District customers.
Another option would be to put the basin somewhere above the diversion dam but no suitable location has yet been agreed upon there.

In what may be something of a setback for the county's plan, the Land Conservancy voted unanimously to encourage the committee to find other alternatives other than the siltation basement in the channel, said Land Conservancy executive director Jim Engel.

"We voted to affirm the commitment to the dam removal," Engel said. "And we know they're going to have to find a place to put the sediment. We even understand, from an engineering standpoint, why they chose this location. But we committed to the community to protect this property and the impacts from this project are potentially large."

Engel said the conservancy respects the efforts of the county to restore endangered species and the concern is making good on promises to the people of the valley.

"The removal of the dam will improve things for not only steelhead but about 26 other species, but at least in this option, it focuses a lot of negative impact on our preserve," said Engel. "We felt that this particular solution was in conflict with our mission and it represents a potential breach of faith with donors in the community to leave the property as pristine as we found it."

David Pritchett, program coordinator for the Southern California Steelhead Coalition, thinks the conservancy's vote is a good thing. "This should help the county narrow down their options and come to a final solution in a more timely fashion," he said.

If the riverbed issue seems a tough one, the pristine condition of the water itself is also at stake. Engel echoed Casitas Municipal Water District officials in saying that a major concern is the quality of the water supplied to the valley from the river channel.
"We don't water quality to be reduced and we don't want to lose water to the valley," said Engel.

The District officially supports the removal effort, according to a recent press release, but is looking to see that all the mitigation issues are adequately addressed to protect the Ojai Valley area water supply, in addition to the steelhead recovery.

"It remains critical that we continue to protect our existing water supply and water quality as we move ahead with building the fish ladder and study the removal of the Matilija Dam," stated Charles Bennett, president of the board of directors for the district. "The district already denies water services to new customers as a result of the high demand to be placed on the water supply by the federally required plan to divert water to the fish ladder."

Officials from many of the concerned groups will meet on Oct. 15 to come up with a public proposal for the dam removal, said Bennett. The Winter and Spring months will provide an opportunity to collect public input and continue to redesign the plan.

Despite some of the new hurdles, Bennett remains optimistic. "The vast majority of people really have their eye on the prize," he said. "The ultimate removal of the dam, free passage for the steelhead and natural sediment transport. Agencies that often times have conflicts are working well together."

© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

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