Some critics of a proposed pipeline to carry treated wastewater under Port Hueneme said they will not oppose the project but instead lobby for concessions from the agency pushing the plan.

The Calleguas Municipal Water District wants to build the underground pipeline down Hueneme Road and Surfside Drive to Port Hueneme Beach. From there, it would resurface in the ocean more than 2,500 feet past the surf line.

The proposal comes as Port Hueneme is trying to attract more tourists, resident Audrey Albert said at a public hearing Wednesday. "And this is going to knock the wind out of our sails for awhile," said Albert, a member of the group Hueneme People.

On Thursday, however, Albert said she will not try to stop the project, despite misgivings about its impact, a sentiment echoed by other critics at the hearing.

Albert and others said they instead will lobby the district for concessions for residents having to put up with more than a year of construction work.

"We need to get more out of it for the trouble," Albert said. In an e-mail to Councilman Norm Griffaw earlier this month, Albert suggested the district finance a skateboard park or police substation.

Griffaw, who supports the pipeline, said after the hearing that he will seek the district's help with financing city water projects.

More than a dozen people criticized the project at a two-hour public hearing at the Oceanview Pavilion on Wednesday. The hearing was designed to solicit comments about a recently released draft environmental impact report. All comments must be submitted to the water district's office by Sept. 10.

The project would be the final link in a 32-mile pipeline the district has been building from Simi Valley to the sea since 2002.

The 48-inch-wide pipeline would carry treated waste water from sewage plants in Simi Valley and Moorpark.

The wastewater contains elevated levels of salt. It can't be discharged in creeks but could irrigate golf courses and other landscaping.

Port Hueneme would be able to send briny water from its desalination plant to the pipeline at no cost. Any other Calleguas concessions would be up to its board of directors, Eric Bergh, the district's manager of resources, said Thursday.

At the hearing, critics raised questions about water quality, effects on marine life, and noise and traffic. Several asked why the district chose Port Hueneme, arguing that residents already have to live with power plants and a toxic slag pile at a shuttered metal recycling facility.

"Things get dumped on us," resident Clarissa Job said.

Several asked why the district didn't evaluate other coastal locations for the discharge point, and said the construction will disrupt Surfside Drive, which is dense with condominiums.

Other locations were evaluated, but they all had protected wetlands or development, such as Naval Base Ventura County, Bergh said. And state and federal regulators aren't likely to give permits for such spots.

Calleguas sells water to 23 agencies in Ventura County, serving about 600,000 people.

Susan Mulligan, Calleguas' manager of engineering, said the treated wastewater would meet the highest water-quality standards. High copper levels, however, require that it be released far out in the ocean, Mulligan said.

No construction would take place at the beach or on Surfside Drive from May to November, Mulligan said.

Construction would last about a year, but it's unclear when it would start, Bergh said.

Permits must first be granted by the city, California Coastal Commission and state Regional Water Quality Control Board.

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