VENTURA : Workshop Examines Desalination Plan

At a public workshop Thursday, Ventura residents questioned officials about a desalination plant the city is proposing to build.

Project Manager Glenn McPherson and desalination expert Ian Watson responded briefly to questions about desalination technologies, environmental impacts, locations for the plant and the effect it would have on marine life. About 60 people attended the workshop.

Steve Bennett, who helped lead a campaign for the plant, suggested the facility should be designed in an attractive way because it could become a tourist site. “I’m not suggesting that thousands of people will flock there, but there will be some people interested in it,” Bennett said.

McPherson said many of the concerns will be addressed in detail later at other public workshops and in a monthly newsletter about the desalination project.

Last November, Ventura residents voted 55% to 45% on an advisory measure in favor of building a desalination plant instead of contracting for imported water from Northern California.

The plant would be one the largest and costliest facilities outside of the Middle East. Cost estimates for building a desalination plant have ranged from $33 million to $55 million.

Environmental studies will begin next year, and the plant is expected to be ready in 1997, McPherson said.