DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

Build Facilities | Protect Life and Property

Mission Statement of the Watershed Protection District (WPD) Design and Construction (D&C) Section: ‘Build facilities to protect life, property and watersheds from the dangers of floods’.

The D&C design teams for each of the District’s four Flood Zones strive to engineer the highest quality designs to construct facilities that protect the communities and watershed environments of Ventura County through a combination of in-house design engineering, project oversight and management, and employment of highly qualified consultants as needed.

A recent example of the services we provide to the community is the Santa Paula Creek Emergency Streambank Protection project. Heavy rains experienced in January 2005 resulted in high runoff within the Santa Paula Creek Watershed which caused severe bank erosion along the main drainage channel of Santa Paula Creek. This erosion resulted in the loss of farmland and endangered 11 homes and a school adjacent to the creek. The 10-20 foot high vertical creek banks were unstable and highly erodible, and thus needed to be stabilized immediately if the homes and farmland were to be protected from future floods. Work improvements included construction of a pilot channel to redirect streamflow away from the eroded banks via a series of 12 pairs of rock riprap groins within Santa Paula Creek (all constructed with existing materials excavated from the pilot channel).

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provided emergency funding for this project and one other emergency project in the City of Santa Paula under their Emergency Watershed Protection Program in order to relieve the imminent flooding hazards that exist within the Santa Paula area.

Another example of provided service improvements is the Lang Creek Dam Debris and Detention Basins project. Work here included the construction of a stormwater debris and detention facility as an enhancement to the existing flow channel of Lang Creek adjacent to Westlake Blvd. The primary objective of this project was to limit runoff capacity up to a 100-year storm flow to no more than approximately 2,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) before the creek flow could reach Erbes Road in order to avoid flooding of the immediate downstream residential and neighborhood park areas. The facility was also intended to trap sediment at the debris basin thus reducing maintenance downstream. This project has performed exactly as expected within the original D&C planned design parameters.

Design and Construction Divisions

The Santa Clara Watershed is comprised of the following cities and communities: Piru, Fillmore, Santa Paula, Ventura, El Rio, Saticoy, Oxnard, Port Hueneme and Nyeland Acres. The major drainages are the Santa Clara River and its associated tributaries, along with various Oxnard Plain urban industrial drains encompassed within Ventura County Flood Zone 2.

Santa Clara River

The Ventura River Watershed is comprised of the following cities and communities: Ojai, Ventura, Oak View, Casitas Springs, Live Oak Acres, and Meiners Oaks. The major drainages are the Ventura River, San Antonio Creek, and tributaries that channel runoff from the Ojai Valley. This is essentially the area referred to as Ventura County Flood Zone 1.

Malibu Creek and Potrero Creek headwater drainages within Ventura County Flood Zone 4-South are overlain primarily by the city and community of Westlake Village. Main drainages here are Potrero Creek and Medea Creek. The Cuyama River Watershed, which is within Ventura County Flood Zone 4-North, drains the sparsely populated northwest corner of Ventura County.

Although these areas cover broadly separated geographic areas and different surface drainages, they have been grouped together by the D&C Section to best facilitate internal department engineering support and facility design, construction, and inspection needs.

The Calleguas Creek Watershed is comprised of the following cities and communities: Santa Susana, Simi Valley, Moorpark, Camarillo, and Somis; plus Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park, and the Arroyo Santa Rosa Valley. Major drainage channels are the Arroyo Conejo, Arroyo Simi, Santa Rosa Creek, Conejo Creek, Arroyo Las Posas, Calleguas Creek and the Revolon Slough. This watershed is known as Ventura County Flood Zone 3, where all surface runoff and flood flows eventually end up at Mugu Lagoon before reaching the Pacific Ocean.

 

The Environmental Services section provides environmental compliance guidance and services to District, Division, and County citizens as required by federal, state, and local regulations and policies.
Duties Include:

  • Compliance with regulatory requirements for capital improvements from project concept through implementation. Regulations include the California Environmental Quality Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act, California Department of Fish and Game Code, federal and state endangered species acts, and many others.
  • Develop and implement cost effective mitigation for District projects.
  • Balance flood control and environmental stewardship through planning at the watershed level.
  • Ensure consistency with the County General Plan policies.
  • Share information with the public and regulators.
  • Provide technical assistance regarding environmental issues at all stages of capital and private projects.
  • Work to streamline permitting and regulatory procedures.
  • Develop applications and administer grants for District projects.

Contacts

 Pam Lindsey  Watershed Ecologist, Section Supervisor  (805) 654-2036  Pam.Lindsey@ventura.org
 Angela Bonfiglio Allen  Environmental Planner  (805) 477-7175  Angela.Bonfiglio@ventura.org
 Donna Hebert  Environmental Planner  (805) 477-1976 Donna.Hebert@ventura.org
 Lara Shellenbarger  Water Resource Specialist  (805) 654-5142 Lara.Shellenbarger@ventura.org

Related Links

Permitting

Biological Information

Invasive Species

Additional Agency Resources