Dredge & Fill

California has lost nearly 95% of its streams and wetlands to filling and development. Continued and illegal dredging and filling of streams is resulting in serious damage to Ventura County ’s environment: degradation of water quality, increased erosion, downstream sedimentation, and loss of aquatic habitat for sensitive species.  Over the last five years, VCK’s investigations have revealed numerous violations of the federal Clean Water Act, due to unlawful discharge of fill material, construction wastes, agricultural wastes, and trash by landowners adjacent to the Santa Clara River , Calleguas Creek, and their tributaries.  In numerous instances VCK has initiated legal action against these landowners resulting in clean ups, abatements, and civil penalties. In some cases, it is estimated that property owners have filled 40 acres of their floodplain property with illegal material. VCK’s goal is to not only stop the dumping, but to require the cleanup of decades of filling into the Ventura County streams, which will help return them to their natural state and provide a co-benefit of added flood control and storage.

The Goal for VCK’s Dredge and Fill Campaign is to restore and improve the ecological integrity of Ventura County ’s rivers and streams and to provide flood storage by stopping illegal dumping, and requiring the cleanup of decades of filling into the Ventura County streams.  

VCK’s Dredge and Fill Campaign is focused on: 1.) Routinely monitoring for, and documenting, dredge and fill activities and for compliance with clean up orders and 2.) Initiating legal action to require the cleanup and abatement of dredge and fill activity.