Ventura speeds up rate study as costs climb for water recycling program

The Ventura City Council voted Tuesday to initiate a new rate study for water and wastewater services in response to higher cost estimates for the city's planned water recycling program.

Residents could see higher utility bills as soon as July 2025, a year earlier than planned, to help fund the VenturaWaterPure program. The project includes an advanced water purification facility and related infrastructure that officials say will treat wastewater to drinking water standards, create a reliable new water supply and reduce discharges of effluent into the Santa Clara River estuary.

The latest cost estimate for the project is $672.2 million, an increase of more than $115 million since the council discussed the project in November. November's projection, at $556.9 million, already marked a $182 million increase since 2022, when the estimate was $374.4 million.

City officials wanted to speed up the rate-setting process so new rates covering a five-year span can start next summer. Completing the process early will put the city in a better position to borrow money by having a long-term rate structure already in place, officials said.

Tuesday's action will allow the city to seek proposals from consultants for the rate study, estimated to cost about $360,000.

The council could approve the consultant's contract in August. The complex, monthslong study involves public hearings and technical studies. The new rate structure could be adopted next spring, said Gina Dorrington, general manager of Ventura Water, before rates kick in on July 1 next year.

Former Ventura Water Commissioner George Amandola, who opposed the city’s support of the water recycling project and resigned in February , spoke out at Tuesday's meeting.

Amandola said he can see water rates tripling by 2040 and going from about $120 a month to $400 for the average ratepayer.

“What kind of burden does that place on the lower-income individual in the city?” he said. “Nobody’s talking about that.”

The city has received about $50 million in grant funds that will help pay for the VenturaWaterPure program. Another $71 million of potential grants could ease the burden on ratepayers, a staff report said.

VenturaWaterPure is a result of a 2012 legal settlement with Wishtoyo Foundation’s Ventura Coastkeeper Program and Heal the Bay over discharges into the estuary.

Annelisa Moe, an associate director of science and policy for Heal the Bay, reminded city officials Tuesday of the implications of opting out of the settlement.

“We will take legal action if necessary as we have done before,” Moe said.

Separately Tuesday, council members approved a $13.3 million agreement with an environmental engineering firm to design the specialized purification plant that will serve as the foundation of the water recycling program. The design work will be done by Hazen and Sawyer, a New York-based firm that specializes in water projects.

Council members also authorized an outfall pump station construction contract with Pacific Hydrotech Corp. for a not-to-exceed amount of $40.6 million, including contingencies, as part of the overall project.

In addition, the panel approved a construction management contract with MWH Constructors Inc. for up to $19.4 million to oversee the outfall pump station project and another piece of the VenturaWaterPure effort, a membrane bioreactor/ultraviolet light project at the existing Ventura Water Reclamation Facility by the Ventura Harbor.

Councilor Bill McReynolds successfully pushed to add a contingency "check-in" for the various contracts if costs rise above a specific amount.

“I just think we need to provide some level of scrutiny," McReynolds said. "It is a blank check, but how do we put some brakes on it at some point?"

Wes Woods II covers West County for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at wesley.woodsii@vcstar.com, 805-437-0262 or @JournoWes .

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ventura speeds up rate study as costs climb for water recycling program