Navy, Coastal Residents May Build Facility to Treat Water : Utilities: Port Hueneme, the Channel Islands Beach community and the military weigh plans for a $12.1-million plant to purify area wells.

Facing tough new water quality standards, Port Hueneme, the U. S. Navy and the Channel Islands Beach community are considering formation of a regional water agency to construct a high-tech treatment plant.

After months of talks, officials of the neighboring coastal communities and Ventura County’s two Navy bases announced plans Wednesday to consider constructing a $12.1-million “reverse osmosis” desalination facility to turn impure well water into high-quality drinking water.

If the four parties can resolve jurisdictional obstacles, the new agency would eventually deliver water three times cleaner than what residents now get.

“To my mind, it’s a wonderful concept,” Port Hueneme City Manager John R. Velthoen said as the plan was announced. “Not only would it meet the needs of the four agencies, but the water would also meet federal water quality standards, remove several wells from the coastal zone and allow residents to throw their water softeners away.”

Residents would pay about twice as much for the cleaner water, but officials say higher costs are inevitable.

The Channel Islands Beach Community Service District and the Naval Construction Battalion Center now rely on wells that are threatened with saltwater intrusion. Port Hueneme and the Naval Air Weapons Station at Point Mugu now buy well water from the United Water Conservation District.

In an informal taste test earlier this year, volunteers judged the mineral-rich water of Port Hueneme and the Channel Islands Beach community to taste worse than water from Ventura or Oxnard.

All four entities faced the prospect of building their own facilities to meet stricter water quality guidelines, said Gerard Kapuscik, general manager of the Channel Islands Beach community, an unincorporated area surrounding Channel Islands Harbor.

“By working together to build one facility and sharing the cost, we’re confident we can save taxpayers up to $10 million in construction costs,” Kapuscik said.

First passed by Congress in 1972, the Clean Water Act has been repeatedly amended to require stricter standards for an ever-wider range of chemicals. Water officials believe that changes in the Clean Water Act--such as reductions in water disinfectants such as chlorine--will force water districts in California to build up to $7 billion in new facilities to meet the tougher standards, Kapuscik said.

Despite pressure to improve water quality, a previous bid by the Channel Islands Beach Community Service District to build a smaller facility with Port Hueneme and the Naval Construction Battalion Center fell through last year.

The stalled project gained new life, however, after the city of Port Hueneme issued $10 million worth of bonds this year to thwart a state raid on city redevelopment money, Velthoen said.

Under the present proposal, Port Hueneme would build and operate the treatment plant, then distribute water to the other three agencies.

Although the plant would use the reverse osmosis process used to remove salt from seawater, it would provide further treatment to the water the city now uses, which comes from wells operated by the United Water Conservation District.

One key to the success of the plan is the participation of the Calleguas Municipal Water District, which would sell additional water to the new agency. Calleguas has tentatively agreed to purchase filtered water back from the agency during non-peak hours, allowing the agency to save money by operating the reverse osmosis facility around the clock.

Officials from both Navy bases supported the plan at Wednesday’s presentation, but said final approval will have to come from Navy brass in Washington.

“It’s clear to me all three parties are giving their absolute best to make this project a practical proposal,” said Capt. John Doyle of the Construction Battalion Center. “We will stay a very active player.”