Abstract
Adaptive groundwater management in Chino Basin entails a highly polycentric set of institutional arrangements that involve multiple local, state, and federal agencies as well as numerous private entities. This chapter presents the organizational and interorganizational structures and relationships involved in the governance and administration of Chino Basin. It begins with the ways in which information gathering, reporting, and accountability practices have been institutionalized in Chino Basin. It includes the stakeholder engagement and decision making processes that have developed in the basin, with specific focus on the practices of the Chino Basin Watermaster. In addition, this chapter addresses California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) enacted in 2014: what if anything it means for Chino Basin, and what lessons the Chino Basin experience has to offer for the nearly 100 other groundwater basins in California where management institutions and plans are being implemented currently.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Chino Basin Watermaster, 2007 Supplement to the Implementation Plan Optimum Basin Management Program for the Chino Basin. October 25, 2007. This document was also Attachment D to Watermaster Resolution 07–05.
- 2.
Chino Basin Watermaster, State of the Basin Report 2016.
- 3.
Chino Basin Watermaster, 2007 Supplement to the Implementation Plan Optimum Basin Management Program for the Chino Basin. October 25, 2007. This document was also Attachment D to Watermaster Resolution 07-05.
- 4.
These are found at http://www.cbwm.org/rep_engineering.htm
- 5.
- 6.
- 7.
- 8.
- 9.
As a reminder: there are three municipal water districts overlying Chino Basin because the basin is in three counties (see Fig. 10.2). In California municipal water districts cannot cross county lines. Three Valleys Municipal Water District includes the portion of Chino Basin that is within Los Angeles County; it overlies other groundwater basins in Los Angeles County as well. Western Municipal Water District overlies the portion of Chino Basin that is within Riverside County; it overlies other groundwater basins in Riverside County as well. Inland Empire Utilities Agency includes the portion of Chino Basin that is within San Bernardino County. That is also the majority of the area of Chino Basin. Inland Empire Utilities Agency does not overlie other groundwater basins in San Bernardino County.
- 10.
IEUA is a party to the Judgment. Indeed, under its original name of Chino Basin Municipal Water District it was the plaintiff and the case is still captioned Chino Basin Municipal Water District v. City of Chino et al.
- 11.
On the other hand, there are parties to the Judgment who do not pump groundwater even though they have assigned rights – Fontana Union Water Company and San Antonio Water Company, for example, assign or transfer their rights for use by other parties.
- 12.
I am grateful to Ken Manning for the orchestra conductor metaphor. The conductor does not play any of the instruments but tries to coordinate the activities of those who do.
- 13.
This may be somewhat confusing since the Court is a San Bernardino County Superior Court and not all of the basin or the parties are within San Bernardino County. Nevertheless, to the extent that the parties are subject to the Judgment and the Court has continuing jurisdiction over the Judgment, its jurisdiction for purposes of this case corresponds to the extent of the basin including those parties who are not located within the county. The same is true of the 1969 Santa Ana River Judgment: the Superior Court of Orange County is assigned continuing jurisdiction of the Judgment and therefore its jurisdiction extends also to the parties that are not located in Orange County.
- 14.
Although the Pool Committees meet separately, every Pool Committee’s meeting agenda and meeting minutes are distributed to the other Pool Committees.
- 15.
An exception to this process is the recommendation to the Court regarding appointment or reappointment of the Watermaster. That recommendation goes directly from the Advisory Committee to the Court.
- 16.
The discussion in this paragraph is based on interviews with multiple board members in 2017 and 2018.
- 17.
The pumping by the three Pools does not add up to 100 percent. Pumping for the desalters makes up the remainder.
- 18.
This is done by a legal process called intervention whereby a person or organization that was not previously a party to the Judgment petitions to become a party.
- 19.
The Non-Agricultural Pool Committee pointed to the procedure used in the Appropriative Pool which also combines weighted voting with a minimum threshold of member agreement.
- 20.
They were never impenetrable: San Bernardino County, for example, has been a member of all three Pools.
- 21.
Each of these changes was executed by means of an intervention. The intervention process can be used for a non-party to become a party to the Judgment, as noted above, and for a party that is a member of one Pool to request membership in another Pool.
- 22.
As already noted, the State of California is in the Overlying (Agricultural) Pool even though its groundwater use is not primarily for agriculture. The State’s largest properties in Chino Basin are the men’s and women’s prisons.
- 23.
Putting together the annual Assessment Packages is a very complicated undertaking, to say the least.
- 24.
Their colleagues Brad Herrema and Andy Malone have shouldered increasing proportions of the Chino Basin portfolio in recent years and are also greatly appreciated by the board members and other stakeholders interviewed for this study.
References
Kiparsky, M., Owen, D., Green Nylen, N., Christian-Smith, J., Cosens, B., Doremus, H., Fisher, A., & Milman, A. (2016). Designing effective groundwater sustainability agencies: Criteria for evaluation of local governance options. Berkeley: Center for Law, Energy and Environment, University of California Berkeley School of Law.
Moran, T., & Wendell, D. (2015). The sustainable groundwater management act of 2014: Challenges and opportunities for implementation. Stanford: Stanford University Water in the West.
Water Education Foundation. (2015). The sustainable groundwater management act: A handbook to understanding and implementing the law. Sacramento: Water Education Foundation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Blomquist, W. (2021). The Governance and Administration of Chino Basin Groundwater Management. In: The Realities of Adaptive Groundwater Management. Global Issues in Water Policy, vol 27. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63723-1_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63723-1_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-63722-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-63723-1
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)