Ventura Rivermouth after flood

On January 9, 2023, flows on the Ventura River peaked over 35,000 cfs.  At this flood stage overbank flows enter agricultural lands and flow through the RV Park and were high enough to flow over Highway 101 stopping traffic.  These flows exit to the ocean through the historic second mouth of the river in Emma Wood State park visible to the left in the photo below.  Although the official flows are not yet in, this was perhaps a once-in-a-decade flood similar to 2005.

High flows transport significant amounts of sediment down the river and into the Pacific Ocean.  A large cobble berm formed at the rivermouth and was transported along the shoreline at Surfers Point by the coinciding large Pacific swell.  Subsequent swells and tides continue to rearrange this berm, and sand has moved into the rivermouth with a reduced wave climate.  Surf conditions since the flood indicate nearshore sand bars, and this sand will move onshore making for wide beaches in the summer months.    

Ventura Rivermouth 1-10-2023

Taylor Ranch and RV Park upstream of Ventura Rivermouth 1-10-2023

Ventura Rivermouth 1-18-2023

Surfers Point 1-18-2023

Ventura Rivermouth 1-18-2023

Ventura Rivermouth 1-31-2023
(credit: Dr. K Patsch)

(All photos courtesy Rich Reid rich@richreidphoto.com except where noted)

  

Why is the ocean brown?

Every time it rains, runoff from the land impacts the river and coast.  And although we have accepted the 'chocolate milk' surf as normal after it rains, it has not always been this way.  This is what is known as a 'Shifting Baseline.'  (See Shifting Baselines in the Surf)

Rainfall this weekend was equivalent to what is known as the 'design storm' - we received approximately one inch over a 12 hour period.  For regulatory and engineering purposes, this quantity of rainfall can and should be retained on site.  This requirement is in the Ventura Countywide 'MS4'  (Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System) Permit, as a standard that all new development will be held to.

The problem, however, is that over the past 100 years our development patterns have directed rainfall off the land, into storm drains, and directly into the river and ocean.

URBAN RUNOFF:

Here's what Ventura Avenue looked like during the rain: the parking shoulder was flowing like a creek.  This is an example of Urban Runoff, and the water here is carrying everything from 'dog poop' and trash, to brake fluid and pesticides, into the storm drains and out to sea.

INDUSTRIAL RUNOFF:

A little further up the Avenue are the oil fields.  Here the runoff changes to a muddy brown.  Here erosion of soil from miles of oilfield roads in the hills and large impervious work yards flushes into the street...

...into the storm drains, and out to the ocean.  Any chemicals that have spilled or absorbed into the ground are flushed off the land along with this soil.

Santa Barbara ChannelKeeper Stream Team volunteers have been sampling this site for a couple of years, and although oil and gas is generally exempt from clean water rules, Santa Barbara ChannelKeeper has been successful in forcing Aera Energy to enroll in the industrial stormwater permit program.  

This video, starting around 3:20, describes ChannelKeeper's work and illustrates the runoff from this area, and also shows how security guards harass watchdogs, even though this is a public street.  

AGRICULTURAL RUNOFF: 

As the video illustrates, another major source of pollution agriculture.  Both livestock and irrigated crops contribute to water quality problems.  

One area we have been watching is the recent expansion of orchards and row crops at Taylor Ranch on the west side of the Ventura River.  This strawberry field was sprayed with chemicals on Friday, despite the storm bearing down on the region.  Because conventional strawberry growers use plastic to cover the ground, these fields generate significant runoff when it rains. 

Here a Santa Barbara ChannelKeeper volunteer is collecting a water sample from under the Main St bridge, just downstream of these fields.    Note the color of the river water. This sample will be analyzed for pesticides...  although a full-suite analysis would likely turn up a variety of pollutants.

Under the bridge is one of dozens of campsites in the floodplain - another issue of concern documented here: Salmon Run focuses on trash issue

We also went to look at the runoff onto Emma Wood State Beach from the strawberry fields up on the hill at Taylor Ranch.  This is a problem we first documented in 2007  when the fields were first developed.  We continue to received numerous reports from beach users, and this photo confirms that runoff still directly enters the ocean from these fields every time it rains.

The combination of all these sources, known as 'Non-Point Source Pollution' has a significant impact on our coastal water quality and health of the ecosystem.  The fine sediments that enter the river and ocean linger for months, and this is why the water at Surfers' Point often appears muddy, long after the rains have stopped.

This diagram summarizes the issues outlined here.  This is just a small part of the big picture...


...

Eucalyptus trees removed

According to the Ventura County Star,

Hundreds of mature eucalyptus trees on private farmland near the Ventura River were felled Saturday because they were casting too much shade on adjacent farmland... Not every tree will be lost. Some on a city controlled easement closer to Main Street, including several with limbs overhanging the two-lane road, will be left in place. The property was recently acquired by the Santa Barbara-based nonprofit Wood-Claeyssens Foundation, which plans to lease the adjacent land to a farmer to grow strawberries.

Change is happening fast at Taylor Ranch, with expansion of orchards and strawberries. Apart from potential impacts to water supply, agricultural runoff has created impacts to water quality in the river and on the beach:

http://www.venturariver.org/2007/11/emma-wood-beach-agricultural-runoff_08.html
http://www.venturariver.org/2008/10/agricultural-discharges-along-lower.html


More on the Woods Clayson Foundation purchase of the property:

http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/jan/22/low-profile-big-deal-foundation-says-goal-is-to/
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/jan/22/foundation-deeply-rooted-in-areas-history/

Agricultural discharges along the lower Ventura River

Last year local beach users documented extreme impacts from new agriculture on Taylor Ranch, above the beach at Emma Wood State Beach. Irrigation of the new plantings resulted in runoff from the impervious plastic sheeting commonly used with industrial strawberries.

This year we are seeing a repeat. Here's a photo of the Ventura River taken from the Main St Bridge on Friday Oct 17.


Here's a report from Santa Barbara ChannelKeeper:

Surfers and concerned citizens have been expressing alarm about unusually muddy water flowing down the lower Ventura River into the ocean, and Stream Team volunteers have been working to identify the source. Over the last two months, we've recorded unusually high turbidity (water clarity) at our sampling site under the Main Street bridge, including the highest dry weather turbidity measurement we've had in eight years of sampling. Upstream measurements at our sampling site near Stanley drain have been normal, indicating that the source of turbidity is somewhere in between these two sites. The biggest recent change to adjacent land use has been the expansion of agricultural operations along the western bank of the lower river.

Recently, a small crew of dedicated Stream Team volunteers helped us investigate the lower river, and found that the river bed is choked with fine sediment. A small drainage ditch has been cut into the western stream bank by irrigation runoff from adjacent agricultural operations. This ditch carries so much sediment into the river, estuary, and ocean that it has significantly increased turbidity. Of additional concern is the potential for agricultural pesticides and fertilizers to contaminate downstream waters.

Agricultural operations are regulated by the State's Porter Cologne Water Quality Control Act under the Conditional Waiver of Waste Discharge Requirements for Discharges from Irrigated Lands. They are required to have in place a water quality monitoring program, a Water Quality Management Plan, and Best Management Practices (BMPs) that ensure they are not significantly impacting downstream water quality. Channelkeeper has written a letter to the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board requesting they inspect adjacent agricultural operations to ensure that these measures are being implemented, and our volunteers have approached the City of Ventura with these same concerns. City staff have already contacted the facility to discuss irrigation runoff issues and future BMP improvements. Channelkeeper and Stream Team will continue to monitor conditions along the lower river.

Emma Wood Beach - Agricultural Runoff

Taylor Ranch runoff results in sediment plume and coastal impacts

Recent expansion of agricultural operations on Taylor Ranch, just north of the Ventura River, resulted in significant impacts to the coast. For several weeks in October, runoff from the large field above Highway 101 discharged through a storm drain onto Emma Wood State Beach. The beach was covered in mud several inches thick, and a plume was visible in the ocean extending downcoast through Surfers Point.

Local kiteboarders took these photos on 10/21/07 and sent them to authorities. If you see continuing problems, please take photos and document the impacts - we'll continue to pass the information on to regulators.