Abstract
The early period of management under the Chino Basin Judgment featured some successes but a gradual build-up of frustrations. Provisions of the judgment covering pumping limitations and basin replenishment were put in place, and the first reallocation of pumping rights from agriculture to municipal and industrial use was carried out. As the 1980s went on, concerns arose among some parties about basin planning, the management of basin storage capacity, and groundwater quality degradation, prompting some reconsideration of what the overall basin management program should address. By the end of the decade, those concerns translated into a legal challenge by some Chino Basin parties to the ways in which the Judgment was being administered. That lawsuit both precipitated and foreshadowed a turning point in the basin governance and management regime.
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Notes
- 1.
Chino Basin Watermaster, First Annual Report of the Chino Basin Watermaster, Fiscal Year 1977–78, p. 4.
- 2.
Although the first reappointment of CBMWD as Watermaster was recommended with unanimous support of the Watermaster Advisory Committee, the second reappointment was endorsed by a majority (though not all) of the Watermaster Advisory Committee, reflecting some discontent among some of the water producers in the basin. When asked about the prospects for continued reappointment of CBMWD as Watermaster, the then-current Chief of Watermaster Services at the district replied, “Who else would do it?” (Peters interview, July 25, 1988.) At the time, it was a rhetorical question.
- 3.
Peters interview, July 25, 1988. Current operational arrangements are described in Chap. 14.
- 4.
Chino Basin Watermaster, First Annual Report of the Chino Basin Watermaster, Fiscal Year 1977–78, pp. 7–11.
- 5.
Chino Basin Watermaster, Seventh Annual Report of the Chino Basin Watermaster, Fiscal Year 1983–84, p. K-7.
- 6.
As described in Chap. 6, the Judgment set the Basin Safe Yield at 140,000 acre-feet per year but provided for a 40-year allowance of additional pumping at the rate of 5000 acre-feet per year.
- 7.
Chino Basin Watermaster, First Annual Report of the Chino Basin Watermaster, Fiscal Year 1977–78, p. 13.
- 8.
Chino Basin Watermaster, Twelfth Annual Report of the Chino Basin Watermaster, Fiscal Year 1988–89.
- 9.
Chino Basin Watermaster, First Annual Report of the Chino Basin Watermaster, Fiscal Year 1977–78, p. 6. In addition, the Chino Basin Watermaster, the Municipal Water District of Orange County, and Orange County Water District negotiated and finalized a three-party agreement in 1978 for use of the OC-59 service connection to the Rialto Reach of the State Water Project, which allowed State Project water to be imported and spread in the Montclair Basins along the San Antonio Creek channel in the western portion of the basin. In 1979, the Chino Basin Municipal Water District succeeded to Chino Basin Watermaster’s part of this agreement, for insurance purposes.
- 10.
Peters interview, July 25, 1988.
- 11.
Chino Basin Watermaster, Eighth Annual Report of the Chino Basin Watermaster, Fiscal Year 1985–86, p. 8.
- 12.
Chino Basin Watermaster, Twelfth Annual Report of the Chino Basin Watermaster, Fiscal Year 1988–89, p. 20.
- 13.
Chino Basin Judgment, Exhibit H, p. 76.
- 14.
Chino Basin Watermaster, First Annual Report of the Chino Basin Watermaster, Fiscal Year 1977–78, pp. 4–5.
- 15.
Peters interview, July 25, 1988.
- 16.
Unused appropriative rights may also be leased between appropriators.
- 17.
Chino Basin Watermaster, Second Annual Report of the Chino Basin Watermaster, Fiscal Year 1978–79, pp. 7–8.
- 18.
Ibid., p. 13.
- 19.
Chino Basin Watermaster, Twelfth Annual Report of the Chino Basin Watermaster, Fiscal Year 1988–89, letter of transmittal.
- 20.
Chino Basin Watermaster, Fifth Annual Report of the Chino Basin Watermaster, 1981–82, p. 12.
- 21.
Interview with Donald Peters, July 25, 1988. In 2002, MWD, its member agency Inland Empire Utilities Agency (the former Chino Basin Municipal Water District) and Chino Basin Watermaster entered into a new arrangement called the Dry Year Yield Program based on a design similar to the earlier Cyclic Storage Program.
- 22.
Chino Basin Watermaster, Ninth Annual Report of the Chino Basin Watermaster, Fiscal Year 1985–86, p. 8.
- 23.
Chino Basin Watermaster Eleventh Annual Report of the Chino Basin Watermaster, Fiscal Year 1987–88, letter of transmittal. Chino Basin Watermaster, Twelfth Annual Report of the Chino Basin Watermaster, Fiscal Year 1988–89, letter of transmittal.
- 24.
Chino Basin Watermaster, First Annual Report of the Chino Basin Watermaster for the Fiscal Year 1977–78, pp. 14–15.
- 25.
Chino Basin Watermaster, Twelfth Annual Report of the Chino Basin Watermaster for the Fiscal Year 1988–89, p. 16; also Skrove, 1989: 8.
- 26.
Chino Basin Watermaster, Third Annual Report of the Chino Basin Watermaster, 1979–80, p. 17.
- 27.
Chino Basin Watermaster, Twelfth Annual Report of the Chino Basin Watermaster, Fiscal Year 1988–89, pp. 20–21.
- 28.
Ibid., pp. 12–13.
- 29.
Ibid., pp. 20–21.
- 30.
Peters interview, July 25, 1988. Craig, 2020 provides a full account and analysis of the Stringfellow Acid Pits case.
- 31.
Chino Basin Watermaster, Eighth Annual Report of the Chino Basin Watermaster for the Fiscal Year 1984–1985, pp. 8–9.
- 32.
Chino Basin Watermaster, 1987, op. cit., p. 10.
- 33.
California Department of Water Resources, 1970, p. 55.
- 34.
Ibid., p. 59.
- 35.
Peters interview, July 25, 1988; Trager interview, January 30, 1989. It should be noted that there are additional concerns with having the water table to near the land surface, including the creation of swampy conditions, seepage into building basements and other excavations, and the increased possibility of soil liquifaction in the event of an earthquake (obviously a matter of particular concern to southern Californians – e.g., a March 1, 1990 5.5 southern California earthquake was centered just north of Upland along the fault zone that forms the northern boundary of Chino Basin).
- 36.
Trager interview, January 30, 1989.
- 37.
County Water Works District No. 8 provided water and wastewater services to an area at the southwest end of Chino Basin that incorporated in 1991 as the City of Chino Hills. Upon the incorporation of Chino Hills, the county water works district was disbanded and water, wastewater, and other public services were provided by the new city.
- 38.
Peters interview, July 25, 1988.
- 39.
Ms. Trager stated, “What is happening is that the Watermaster seems to be holding in abeyance all of the things that he ought to be doing under the Judgment because he thinks Metropolitan coming in is going to solve those problems. Develop a program and then what we will see inevitably is Metropolitan by default operating the basin. Perhaps to the detriment of some of the parties.” Transcript, February 2, 1989 hearing, at page 27.
- 40.
Transcript, February 2, 1989 hearing, at page 14.
- 41.
Transcript, February 2, 1989 hearing, at page 35.
- 42.
Transcript, February 2, 1989 hearing, at page 45.
- 43.
Transcript, March 1, 1989 hearing, at page 31.
- 44.
Transcript, March 1, 1989 hearing at page 67.
- 45.
Transcript, March 1, 1989 hearing, at pages 67–68.
- 46.
Transcript, March 1, 1989 hearing, at page 71.
- 47.
Transcript, March 1, 1989 hearing, at page 99.
- 48.
Transcript, March 1, 1989 hearing, at page 92.
- 49.
Transcript, March 1, 1989 hearing, at page 87.
- 50.
Transcript, March 1, 1989 hearing, at page 84.
- 51.
Transcript, March 1, 1989 hearing, at pages 110–111.
- 52.
Transcript, March 1, 1989 hearing, at page 121.
- 53.
David Bloom, “Cities Win Battle over Managing Water Supplies.” The Press-Enterprise. Riverside, California, March 2, 1990, p. B-1.
- 54.
“Summary of Engineering Activities of the Chino Basin Watermaster for the First Twenty Years of Operation 1977–1997.” Report appended to the 1996–97 Annual Report of the Chino Basin Watermaster.
- 55.
“Summary of Engineering Activities of the Chino Basin Watermaster for the First Twenty Years of Operation 1977–1997.” Report appended to the 1996–97 Annual Report of the Chino Basin Watermaster.
- 56.
“Summary of Engineering Activities of the Chino Basin Watermaster for the First Twenty Years of Operation 1977–1997.” Report appended to the 1996–97 Annual Report of the Chino Basin Watermaster.
References
Blomquist, W., Schlager, E., & Heikkila, T. (2004). Common waters, diverging streams: Linking institutions to water management in Arizona, California, and Colorado. Washington, DC: Resources for the Future.
California Department of Water Resources. (1970). Meeting water demands in the Chino-Riverside area. Appendix A: Water supply (Bulletin No. 104-3). Sacramento, CA: State Printing Office.
Craig, B. (2020). Stringfellow Acid Pits: THE toxic and legal legacy. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Skrove, T. (1989). The wonders, wages and woes of wellwater. Aqueduct, 55(1), 5–8.
Trager, S. M. (1988). Emerging forums for groundwater dispute resolution in California: A glimpse at the second generation of groundwater issues and how agencies work towards resolution. Pacific Law Journal, 20(1), 31–74.
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Blomquist, W. (2021). Groundwater Management in Chino Basin During the First 15 Years Under the Judgment. 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_7
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