Dive Brief:

• Ventura lies in drought-stricken California and city officials say water supplies are getting so tight that they have asked users to reduce consumption 10% this year.
• Developers who want to build in the city say that water is abundant not far below the ground – as little as 7 feet down on one site.
• The city council is considering a fee of $15,000-per-acre-foot for however much water is needed for a development and is not covered by water rights on the site. The money would go into a fund to develop new water sources.

Dive Insight:

The disagreement between developers and the city appears to be about the cost of new water. Developers say ground water is readily available, while the city says that new sources would be two to three times the cost of the current water supply.