County supervisors are disputing some key findings in a Ventura County Grand Jury report on the safety of dams in the area, saying they “wholly disagreed” with a conclusion that no local monitoring is done.
In its response approved Tuesday, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors said local inspections are conducted for all dams owned by the Ventura County Watershed Protection District before winter and during and after each storm.
The district owns 56 dams, including Matilija Dam, a 71-year-old structure northwest of Ojai. That total probably constitutes most of the publicly owned dams in Ventura County, district Director Glenn Shephard said.
Matilija Dam received a “poor” rating for seismic reasons in a state review of California dams that was spawned by the failure of the Oroville Dam spillway last year.
District officials are seeking to remove Matilija Dam and have applied for a $2 million federal grant to help stabilize it in the meantime. Dams are also inspected if sizable earthquakes strike within a certain distance of the structures, Shephard said.
Jurors also recommended the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services track the progress of remedial actions taken at the Matilija Dam and three others that received “fair” ratings in the state evaluation: Santa Felicia Dam on Lake Piru and Castaic and Bouquet Canyon dams in Los Angeles County. Progress reports should be made annually to the Board of Supervisors, jurors said.
Although the Castaic and Bouquet Canyon dams lie outside the county, a hazard map shows Ventura County areas would be subject to flooding if the structures failed.
Supervisors, though, said the operators of the dams along with state and federal agencies bear the responsibility for monitoring progress of remedial actions.
Supervisors did concur with a recommendation that they direct public works officials to provide technical assistance as appropriate to the Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services. That is “already taking place,” the response said.
Supervisors approved responses the grand jury asked of them as well as the watershed district. They reviewed a response from the emergency services office for information, but their approval was not required because Sheriff Geoff Dean is an elected official.
Dean agreed with a recommendation to distribute inundation maps and other information to help prepare residents for dam failures but said posting of warning signs and use of sirens would need to be studied. Under questioning from Supervisor Linda Parks, Assistant Emergency Services Director Kevin McGowan said information on inundation areas is available primarily on a county website.
Under questioning from Supervisor John Zaragoza, McGowan said warning signs similar to those for tsunami areas are not posted on land. But the information is available on the website, he said.
The grand jury required separate responses from the United Water Conservation District, which owns the Santa Felicia Dam.
The district agreed to provide information to the county emergency services agency to track progress on Santa Felicia Dam if the agency takes on that responsibility. District officials disagreed partially with the finding that there was no apparent effort to educate the public on potential inundation areas, evacuation routes and what to do in case of a dam failure.
While outreach efforts have been directed mainly toward governmental emergency management agencies, the district has also been working with the Piru Neighborhood Council, the Red Cross and local school districts, the response said.
District officials agreed the signs and sirens would be useful during an emergency if cell towers were unavailable. Two warning sirens have been installed in Piru, the response said.
But the district called for more review of how those methods would be used along with community training to boost effectiveness.
“From a practical perspective, it has been very difficult to generate and maintain interest in these activities,” the response said. “Once a disaster, such as Oroville, has passed, ‘normal life’ resumes.”
September 12, 2018
Ventura County Star
By Kathleen Wilson
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