Those who drive on Lindero Canyon Road north of Thousand Oaks Blvd. have been exposed to some construction over the past year. While this has been inconvenient at times, the benefits to Oak Park are significant, particularly with regard to water supply during future emergencies, such as wildfires. The Lindero Canyon Road Water Project’s objectives are described below.
Project Overview
Calleguas Municipal Water District (Calleguas) provides water supplies to local water agencies that serve numerous communities throughout eastern Ventura County. Just across the county line in Los Angeles, Las Virgenes Municipal Water District (LVMWD) serves its communities using the same water source as Calleguas — the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD). Both agencies “import” this water from MWD for nearly their entire supply. The Calleguas water system currently relies on a single point of connection, a one-mile-long tunnel through the Santa Susana Mountains in Chatsworth, to receive this water and deliver it throughout its service area that includes three-fourths of Ventura County. To safeguard against any unplanned interruption of the water supply, Calleguas and LVMWD are working together to construct an interconnection between their two systems.
Calleguas distributes water to 19 suppliers (cities, counties, etc.), covering three-fourths of Ventura County.
Lindero Project Objectives
- Improve the reliability and flexibility of your water storage and distribution systems.
- Improve the ability to provide potable water to you during periods of reduced imported water supply.
- Reduce the risk for potential water shortages associated with natural disasters, such as wildfire and earthquake, and required system maintenance.
Benefits to Oak Park
Las Virgenes Municipal Water District (LVMWD) will now be connected directly to Calleguas. Since Calleguas also provides water to Triunfo Water District including Oak Park, this serves as a backup in case of a problem with the Triunfo-Calleguas connection to MWD-supplied water. If there were a problem with the Triunfo-Calleguas-MWD connection, Oak Park could now receive Las Virgenes water from Calleguas. The result is a more resilient system that supports the project objectives above.
The level of construction required to enact these benefits has already decreased considerably and is expected to be completed this fall, with all sign-offs expected by the end of the year.
