General Manager's Message

February brings many remembrances. We celebrate Black History, the birthdays of our presidents, Groundhog Day and Valentine's Day. This month there's even a Random Act of Kindness Day and Love Your Pet Day. We can always use some extra love and kindness. I am always willing to share my love of water with others and I get to work with people who are just as passionate about water as I am, every day. This month we highlight our Water Production Supervisor, who has dedicated over 33 years to ensuring water is delivered to your home. That dedication is out of a love for serving the community.


A special event for Ventura Water this month was attending the Tri-Counties California Water Environment Association's (CWEA) annual awards banquet where our outreach team received the 2022 Community Engagement and Outreach Project of the Year award. This recognition truly is a testament to the efforts of our community to preserve our city's water resources.


The green growth on Ventura's hills reminds us that March is coming fast, and spring will soon be here. Time to start sprucing up on ways to save water, like planting water friendly gardens or fixing leaky irrigation and faucets. Maybe even signing up for our Recycled Water Mobile Reuse program to help keep your gardens looking fresh throughout the year. And remember, on Sunday, March 12, 2023, we will set our clocks one hour forward, a good time to adjust your irrigation system to be its most efficient.


Respectfully,

Gina Dorrington

Eric Dettloff, Water Production Supervisor, reviews the SCADA system at Golf Course Well 7

Ventura Water - In Focus

This year we began a series highlighting a sampling of our dedicated staff who work hard to keep things flowing in our community. The paramount goal of Ventura Water is to provide a safe and reliable water and wastewater system. In January we focused on the acquisition and management of our precious water resources. The next stop is water production, the business of successfully procuring an approximate daily average of twelve million gallons, to meet our customers’ need. To do this successfully the water production team maintains and operates nine water wells, 19 booster pump stations, 21 tank and reservoir facilities and performs maintenance on three water treatment plants. Amazingly, all of this is done by a staff of seven!



Eric Dettloff is the Water Production Supervisor. With 33 years of experience at Ventura Water, he is an extremely valuable component of the system. Eric relies on a staff consisting of a production lead, three electrical-mechanical maintenance workers, two utilities mechanics, and a fine-tuned control system. SCADA is a supervisory control and data acquisition system that, simply put, monitors and controls the multitude of water production components. SCADA then notifies the human components who respond whenever a need arises, like if a pump goes down or a valve fails. If it sounds like a complicated system already, the fact that Ventura encompasses 16 different pressure zones (geographic areas that are bounded by a lower and upper elevation) adds to the complexity of the production team’s task. Eric looks back at the 1994 Northridge Earthquake that caused a power loss to about half of the city, as one of the most challenging events of his career. Thankfully, today we have backup generators throughout the system so that when emergencies like the 2017 Thomas Fire occur, the water production team can better handle a loss of power. When asked what he loves most about his job, ironically, it’s those types of challenges that keep Eric excited to be on the job every day.


Flowing past water production, Ventura’s water supply must be carefully treated before being distributed to our customers. In March, we’ll focus on water treatment and maybe learn a little chemistry!

Wastewater Pollutant Series:

Herbicides, Pesticides and other Garden Chemicals

Spring is just around the corner and many gardeners are preparing their beds for planting. However, innocent gardening activities can contribute to wastewater pollution from improper use or disposal of pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, and fungicides. When sent down the drain, these chemicals can disrupt biological wastewater treatment and bypass treatment. Even certain plant hormones can contain contaminants of emerging concern that disrupt the endocrine systems of aquatic life when they end up in local water bodies. Though most homeowners do not have significant quantities of these chemicals at home, they can be highly concentrated, so we advise home gardeners to properly dispose of unused garden chemicals by dropping them off at a local disposal facility.


Whether you have a green thumb or not, you can find more information on “non-flushables” and the City’s monthly household hazardous materials disposal events on our website. Everyone wins when we think before we flush so remember only flush the 3 P’s – pee, poo and (toilet) paper! 

VenturaWaterPure: Drought-Resilient Water Supply

VenturaWaterPure (VWP) is a multi-benefit purified recycled water program that will recover, treat, and reuse water that is currently discharged into the Santa Clara River Estuary, creating a new, local, drought-resilient water source that isn’t dependent on rainfall. 


This trusted solution, used internationally and throughout California, will produce up to 20% of Ventura’s total water supply. Learn more at www.VenturaWaterPure.net.

Free Mulch & Compost Available to Residents

Applying mulch over soil not only looks nice, it also retains moisture, reduces weed invasion, and prevents erosion. Compost adds nutrients and improves soil structure. Ventura residents are invited to pick up free mulch and compost at the Mulch Madness event to be held on Saturday, March 11, 2023. Register here.

Employment Opportunities


View current employment opportunities with the City of Ventura here. 

Water Commission

The public is invited to join us in-person for the upcoming Water Commission Meeting on Tuesday, February 28, 2023, at 5:30 p.m. at the Ventura City Hall, Community Meeting Room, Second Floor.


Click here for meeting agendas and more information.

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