Why is Chino Basin Watermaster selling water at a time when there is drought?
The agreement approved by the court in December 2007 specifically says that the water or proceeds from its sale must be used for a Broad Mutual Benefit Program approved by Watermaster. To meet this criterion, the parties to Chino Basin Watermaster decided that the best use of the asset was to sell it and use the proceeds to cover the costs of a court-required expansion of its recharge facilities. The cost for that expansion is estimated to be in excess of $100 million dollars and must be completed over the next few years. Selling the water and using the proceeds for that purpose ensures that the benefits are spread equally throughout the Basin, eliminating the need to raise water rates to cover the cost of facility improvements. If the water was used to offset over-production of some producers, only those agencies that exceed their allocated amount would benefit from the water. That did not meet the criterion of Broad Mutual Benefit.
