Ventura County school district could lose connection to drinking water

• Mesa Union School District and its water company have yet to reach an agreement.
• The district is developing a contingency plan to truck in drinking water.

A small school district in the Somis area may soon lose its longtime connection to drinking water after failing to reach an agreement with the purveyor.

Del Norte Water Company, founded over a century ago, has provided the Mesa Union School District with water since its campus was built in 1939, officials said. While the school was not within Del Norte’s service area, it reportedly started providing water to the campus on an emergency basis and later continued to do so.

In recent years, however, the company faced more challenges, from a wildfire that damaged its drinking water reservoir to fallout from groundwater rights litigation, said John Orr, president of Del Norte’s Board of Directors. His great grandfather was one of the company’s founding members in 1910, he said.

The groundwater case covered a region called the Las Posas Valley, an area that included both Mesa Union and Del Norte. When the judgment shifted pumping rights, Del Norte requested the school district use its own groundwater allocation to account for drinking water the company sold to the school. The request was made in May 2024, and Mesa Union initially said no.

Both the school district and water company said it took some time to understand the lengthy judgment and how such a transfer could happen. School officials said discussions continued, but there was still no agreement. When Del Norte said the company got a second “no” from the school district, it sent a disconnection notice in December 2024.

“We said, ‘Well, gosh, if they’re going to say that, then we better give them notice,” Orr said. “We’re not going to be able to serve them water if we have to give it away to them.”

When could the water be disconnected?

The earliest the disconnection could happen is June 30 of this year.

In the months since that notice was sent, the school district and company continued to talk, officials said. Around November, the school district agreed to use its allocation for the water provided by Del Norte.

By then, however, the company had concerns. In March, Del Norte proposed some additional conditions, including $10,000 to reimburse the company’s legal expenses and an agreement on future liability issues. As of this week, the two sides had yet to reach a deal.

Mesa Union Superintendent Raul Ramirez said the school district’s goal is to maintain water service provided by Del Norte. In a meeting with parents, Ramirez declined to talk about the specific details of the additional conditions but characterized them as adding increased liability for the school district.

The district plans to continue moving forward with a contingency plan, which it believes can be in place before the end of June, the superintendent said.

What issues does Del Norte face?

When the district changed its response and agreed to the allocation, Del Norte said it looked at whether it would be worth it to continue providing water outside of its service area, which is north of Camarillo and Highway 118.

The school district used a relatively small amount of water, and the company, whose lines cross a highway to get to the campus, would continue to face challenges, Orr said. Included in its concerns, a fire or some other problem could cause an issue that couldn’t be repaired quickly enough, and the school could hold the company liable for a service interruption.

After a 2024 fire burned the roof of Del Norte’s drinking water reservoir, the company had to install four tanks to continue to supply drinking water, according to Orr. It did so quickly enough to maintain service for its customers and the school, he said, but the tanks provided less storage capacity.

The company doesn’t have multiple wells or sources of water in case of a shortfall from another wildfire or other problem, Orr said.

“We have some redundancy, but not the same that a major metropolitan or city water system would have,” he said.

How will Mesa Union get its own water?

Mesa Union officials said they have developed a contingency plan for its own drinking water system.

Plans call for trucking in drinking water that then would be stored in a steel tank. The district would use money from a school bond to pay the roughly $200,000 for the tank, pump and other equipment. Other ongoing costs for the water deliveries also would be needed.

“It is a costly, but at this point, necessary build,” Ramirez said.

The district also has its own well. Drilled a few years ago to replace an older well, it supplies groundwater for irrigation as well as fire hydrants and the sprinkler system. But it cannot be used for drinking water, officials said.

“The reality is that our existing infrastructure would not meet state standards,” Ramirez said.

He said officials also are committed to working with Del Norte to try to reach an agreement – one that the superintendent said would be “reasonable and fair to both sides.”

Orr said the company wants to do business with the school district, but Del Norte isn’t a public agency. It’s a small, private company and doesn’t believe what it has asked of the district is too significant, he said.

“We don’t intend to leave them high and dry,” Orr said. “But we do want to get the issue resolved.”

Cheri Carlson is a reporter for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at cheri.carlson@vcstar.com.