What is a mutual water company?
A mutual water company is a private, not-for-profit water system established by a group to produce and deliver water for its own use. It is in essence a cooperative owned by the property owners it serves, who are shareholders in the company.
Who owns Senior Canyon Mutual Company?
Senior Canyon is owned 100% by the shareholders it serves. Each property owner must own at least one share to receive water service, and there are 1,125 total shares in the company that have been issued.
Where does the Senior Canyon water come from?
Senior Canyon’s potable water is produced by two spring-fed surface sources high up in Senior Canyon and from the Senior Canyon tunnel. Agricultural water is produced by five deep-water wells, one off Grand Avenue in the Ojai Groundwater Basin, and the other four in Senior Canyon.
What is the quality of Senior Canyon water? Is it safe?
Senior Canyon’s potable water supplies are collected from our spring-fed streams and groundwater tunnel in the upper reaches of a protected and pristine mountain watershed. There are no homes, no farms or farm animals, no gardens or orchards, and except for the Senior Canyon water system itself, no development of any kind. This high-quality source water is then disinfected and treated through an in-line filtration process before being sent through our distribution system and on to our customers.
As a public water system, Senior Canyon is regulated under the United States EPA Safe Drinking Water Act and reports to the California State Water Resources Control Board. Senior Canyon’s treatment system is in full compliance with the drinking water regulations and our water quality routinely exceeds water quality standards. For more information, please see our annual Consumer Confidence Report. For information on the quality of Casitas’ water supplies, please visit https://www.casitaswater.org/annual-consumer-confidence-water-quality-reports
How is Senior Canyon organized?
Senior Canyon is governed by a seven-member volunteer board that meets monthly. There is an annual meeting on the last Saturday of April for all shareholders to elect Board members and approve the annual budget.
How is Senior Canyon related to Casitas Municipal Water District?
Casitas Municipal Water District manages Lake Casitas and serves the greater Ojai Valley with water from the lake and from groundwater wells directly to customers as well as to other water systems such as Senior Canyon. In that way, Senior Canyon is a reseller of Casitas water and purchases water from Casitas when Senior Canyon cannot produce enough of its own water to meet its demand When Casitas was formed, property owners within the Senior Canyon service area were given the option of switching to Casitas or remaining with Senior Canyon. As a result, some property owners within Senior Canyon are direct customers of Casitas and do not receive Senior Canyon water.
How much storage does Senior Canyon have?
Senior Canyon has two storage tanks, the Nightingale tank just west of McAndrew Road that holds 237,000 gallons, and the Thacher Tank high up on The Thacher School campus that holds 708,000 gallons.
What do I do if I buy a parcel that is on Senior Canyon water?
The shares of stock are transferred from the seller to the buyer during the escrow process. To aid in this transfer, the company has put together a packet of information and forms to be completed by both buyer and seller. This packet is available here.
How does the monthly billing work?
At the end of each month our field crew reads all the meters on a reading device. This information is electronically transferred into our billing system, and bills are produced. We try to mail out the bills before the 10th of each month. The bills are due on the 25th of each month. If your payment is late, a 25$ late fee is added to your bill for the next month.
How do I pay my bill?
You write a check and mail it to:
Senior Canyon Mutual Water Company
P.O. Box 600
Ojai, CA 93024
Many shareholders pay their bills via online banking, where the bank mails the check to us. We can no longer have checks physically dropped off at our office.
May I receive my bill via email? Is there an auto pay option?
At this point we cannot send out bills via email, but we are working on developing this capacity. We are also investigating an auto-pay option, but due to our size and the potential expense, it is not a viable option at this time.
What if I can’t pay my bill? Will my service be cut off?
Senior Canyon is not equipped to carry any unpaid balances, so we expect that your bill will be fully paid on time. If an unpaid balance becomes a chronic problem, then we will contact you and request immediate restitution for the balance due. If your bill is not paid, we will implement our water shut-off policy, which could result in our turning off your water service. The shut-off policy is available here.
What do I do if I see a water leak?
Senior Canyon is responsible for all leaks on piping going to the meter from our main lines, while the shareholder is responsible for any leaks from lines running from your meter to your house or to your irrigation system. If you see a leak in a line prior to your meter, or if on a walk or otherwise spot a leak anywhere that may be from a Senior Canyon line, please call us right away at 805-665-0587. If the leak is in on your property, you are responsible for that repair. Most leaks on shareholder lines are caused by critters chewing into irrigation lines. Because the soil in the East End percolates so easily, many times a wet spot on the ground may not form because the leak is in an irrigation line that is buried.
May shareholders attend Board meetings?
Yes, all shareholders may attend the monthly board meetings held on the third Friday of the month at 3:00 p.m. On each monthly bill, the date and time of the next board meeting will be listed on the bottom portion of the bill.
I want to start either a small orchard or vineyard and grow crops for commercial sale. Can I get a special agricultural water meter and lower water rates to support my crops?
For many years now, Senior Canyon’s Board has maintained a policy of not issuing any new meters designated for agricultural (AG) use. This is consistent with Casitas policy. Senior Canyon’s rationale for this policy is based on fairness and equitability among all shareholders.
By way of background, AG water rates are generally discounted from the residential water rates, even though it is the same water. Senior Canyon originated as a cooperative among growers in this area to supply water to their crops, and at this time Senior Canyon continues to support existing growers with a discounted rate to help keep existing agriculture economically viable.
While the Board’s current rate policy is to support existing agriculture, in fairness to all shareholders the Board has chosen not to extend a discounted agricultural rate to new growers. Most of the crops grown in our area use far more water on a per area basis than residential use, and so providing new discounts for agricultural use could drive up overall water costs as more and more water must be purchased from Casitas. In this way, the existing residential shareholders would be subsidizing the discounts given to new agricultural users, while those same new agricultural users would be causing Senior Canyon to purchase more of the most expensive water from Casitas.
I have heard about a lawsuit filed by the City of Ventura against the Ojai Valley. What is this about and is Senior Canyon part of it?
A big part of this lawsuit has to do with having enough water in the lower reaches of the Ventura River to support a healthy steelhead run. The original lawsuit was filed by Santa Barbara Channelkeepers against the City of Ventura, which takes water from the Ventura River and has wells near the mouth of the River.
The City of Ventura eventually settled with Channelkeepers, but claimed that upstream users, including well users in the Ojai Valley were also responsible for the shortages of water in the River. More than 6,000 complaints were filed against the residents and companies in the Ojai Valley that had something to do with using water from the Ojai Basin. For example, all well owners were served, as well as any resident living next to a drainage that perhaps supplied water to that customer at some time in the past.
Senior Canyon is a party to the lawsuit. Senior Canyon has one well near Grand Avenue that supplies only agricultural water from a small well. Our other water sources are outside the Ojai Basin high up in Senior Canyon. The litigation has been phased, with the first phase focusing on the interconnectedness of the area’s groundwater basins to the Ventura River. Senior Canyon’s non-basin water sources would be addressed in later phases.
Currently, the major parties in the first phase of litigation are in mediation in an attempt to resolve the dispute and the litigation has been paused. The mediation is focused on developing a physical solution that would ostensibly eliminate the need for lawsuits to settle this dispute. Senior Canyon’s General Counsel, along with a local law firm, is monitoring developments in this suit.