Creating a Watermaster to Govern the Basin

In 1978, the San Bernardino County Superior Court entered a Judgment establishing a new entity, the Chino Basin Watermaster. It was comprised of three stakeholder groups, called Pools, represented by separate Pool Committees:

• Overlying Agricultural Pool Committee, representing dairymen, farmers, and the State of California;
• Overlying Non-Agricultural Pool Committee, representing area industries;
• Appropriative Pool Committee, representing local cities, public water districts, and private water companies.

Engineering, legal and other working committees were formed within Watermaster to define specific problem areas in the Basin. Safe yield and socio-economic studies were carried out to develop an agreement on the allocation of producer water rights.

Advisory Committee and Board Established to Oversee Watermaster

Completing the governance arrangements, representatives from the three Pools formed an Advisory Committee to oversee the regular activities of Watermaster. The Pool Committees handle business affecting their own Pool members, and make recommendations to the Advisory Committee; The Advisory Committee then makes recommendations to the Board. In 1998, at the request of the Advisory Committee, the Court appointed a new nine member Watermaster Board, and also ordered a significant new step—development and implementation of a comprehensive Optimum Basin Management Plan, with reports of progress and annual reports to be submitted to the Court and the major parties.

Completing the Framework: the Peace Agreement

A Peace Agreement was reached in 2000, establishing a detailed arrangement for managing and financing the OBMP, The Court approved the agreement and received and filed the environmental document covering the entire arrangement. A refinement and deepening of the original Agreement, called the Peace II Agreement, has received court approval and is currently in progress.