Chino Basin Watermaster

What Chino Basin Watermaster does

Chino Basin Watermaster is a court-established quasi-judicial public agency created in 1978 under a Judgment of the Superior Court of California for San Bernardino County. It administers adjudicated groundwater rights and manages the sustainable use of the Chino Basin aquifer in Southern California, serving approximately 15 named Judgment parties including cities (Chino, Ontario, Fontana, Chino Hills, Pomona, Upland), water districts (Cucamonga Valley, Monte Vista, Western Municipal, Three Valleys, IEUA), water companies (Fontana Water Company, Golden State Water Company), and San Bernardino County Flood Control. Operations are organized through a three-pool committee structure — Appropriative Pool, Overlying (Agricultural) Pool, and Overlying (Non-Agricultural) Pool — with corresponding pooling plans, voting rules, and Rules & Regulations.

The agency's core product is the Optimum Basin Management Program (OBMP), a comprehensive framework for hydraulic management, water supply reliability, and groundwater quality protection, originally completed in 2000 and updated in 2020. Supporting products and tools include a digital forms portal (water transactions, storage agreements, recharge applications), a legal document management system (1978 Judgment, 2012 Restated Judgment, Peace and Peace II Agreements, court filings, hearing transcripts), technical engineering reports (OBMP Status Reports, Ground-Level Monitoring, Plume Status, Safe Yield Reevaluation, Streamflow), financial reports and assessment packages, interactive GIS mapping, and an ICS-exportable meeting calendar. Headcount is small (11-50 employees) and operations are run from a single headquarters in Rancho Cucamonga, California.

Chino Basin Watermaster does not operate a commercial revenue model. It is funded through annual assessments levied on Judgment parties, calculated from the approved budget divided by total assessable production from the preceding fiscal year. The organization holds regular Board, Advisory Committee, and Pool Committee meetings in compliance with California's Brown Act, and functions under ongoing Superior Court supervision. Key operational partnerships include the Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA), which completed the OBMP Programmatic EIR and certifies environmental reports, and the Chino Basin Desalter Authority (CDA), which handles groundwater purification and drinking water distribution. There is no venture funding, no equity structure, and no traditional ownership — the entity is a public agency whose mandate, governance, and revenue base are defined entirely by court order.

Name

Chino Basin Watermaster

Legal name

Chino Basin Watermaster

Website

https://cbwm.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1978

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Chino Basin Watermaster is a court-established quasi-judicial public agency founded in 1978 that administers adjudicated groundwater rights and manages the Chino Basin aquifer in Southern California for approximately 15 municipal, agricultural, and water utility Judgment parties through its Optimum Basin Management Program.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Groundwater Management

NAICS

Administration of Air and Water Resource and Solid Waste Management Programs (924110), Water Supply and Irrigation Systems (22131)

SIC

Water Supply (4941)

akta.pro primary industry

Water Resources Administration (Watersheds, Rivers, Groundwater) (BPAIAMAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Regulatory Compliance Monitoring & Reporting (SDWA/CWA/NPDES, permits, audits) (EUANAJAA), Water Supply & Wastewater Utilities Administration (BPAIACAG)

Keywords

• Groundwater management
• Water rights administration
• Basin management
• Water resource monitoring
• Adjudicated water rights

Headquarters

HQ city

Rancho Cucamonga

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Chino Basin Watermaster administers adjudicated groundwater rights in the Chino Basin under a 1978 Judgment from the Superior Court of California, San Bernardino County. It manages water allocation, replenishment, and quality monitoring across three pool committees (Appropriative, Overlying Agricultural, and Overlying Non-Agricultural), develops and implements the Optimum Basin Management Program (OBMP), collects assessments from Judgment parties, and publishes engineering, financial, and legal reports to ensure sustainable groundwater use and prevent overdraft.

Product overview

Chino Basin Watermaster is a quasi-governmental administrative agency providing a comprehensive water resource management platform for the Chino Basin. The organization operates a unified system of interconnected products centered on the Optimum Basin Management Program (OBMP), supported by digital form processing (Forms 1-11 and specialized forms), an extensive legal document repository (Judgment documents, Peace Agreements, Court filings and transcripts), technical engineering reports (OBMP Status Reports, Ground-Level Monitoring, Plume Reports, Safe Yield Reevaluation), financial management tools (Assessment Packages, Budgets, Audited Financial Statements), an interactive GIS Mapping system, and a Watermaster Calendar with Microsoft Outlook ICS export. The portfolio also includes meeting management for the Watermaster Board, Advisory Committee, and three Pool Committees (Appropriative, Overlying Non-Agricultural, and Overlying Agricultural), enabling stakeholder governance of the basin's water resources.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Optimum Basin Management Program (OBMP)
• Water Rights Administration via Three-Pool Committee Structure
• Engineering and Technical Reporting Service
• Assessment Package and Financial Administration
• Legal Document Management Service

Named customers15 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2000IEUA is a key partner that completed the Programmatic Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) for the Optimum Basin Management Program and the Subsequent Environmental Impact Report (SEIR) for Peace II Agreement. IEUA certifies environmental reports and implements OBMP tasks.
• Chino Basin Desalter Authority (CDA)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2000The CDA purifies groundwater extracted from the lower Chino Basin and distributes drinking water to member agencies. Works with Watermaster on groundwater treatment and desaltization.
• California Department of Water Resources (DWR)coreOthers · 1 January 1978State agency involved with state water plans and projects. DWR provides educational information on the Delta, dam regulations, and state water issues. Works with Watermaster on state water resource management.
• Metropolitan Water DistrictminorOthersMWD is a consortium of 26 cities and water districts that provides drinking water to nearly 18 million people in parts of Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties.
• San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water DistrictminorOthersSBVMWD is a regional water wholesaler for the San Bernardino Valley. Functions include providing water, wastewater and storm water disposal, recreation, and fire protection services.
• Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control BoardminorOthersOne of nine Regional Boards of the California State Water Resources Control Board. Develops and enforces water quality objectives and implementation plans to protect beneficial uses of the State's water.
• Santa Ana Water Project Authority (SAWPA)minorOthersSAWPA develops and maintains regional plans, programs and projects that protect the Santa Ana River Basin water resources to maximum beneficial uses within the watershed.
• State Water Resources Control BoardcoreOthersThe Water Board ensures the highest reasonable quality for waters of the State while allocating waters to achieve optimum balance of beneficial uses.
• U.S. Bureau of ReclamationminorOthersProvides management of water resources for the Mid-Pacific region, including planning, management and operation activities.
• Main San Gabriel Basin WatermasterminorOthersAgency charged with administering adjudicated water rights and managing groundwater resources within the Main San Gabriel Groundwater Basin.
• Six Basins WatermasterminorOthersEstablished in 1998, manages the groundwater resources of the Six Basins area through the implementation of the 1998 Judgment.
• Eastern Municipal Water DistrictminorOthersProvides domestic and agricultural water, wastewater collection and treatment services, and recycled water in a 555 square mile service area with population of about 630,000 in western Riverside County.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Santa Clara Valley Water District: California groundwater management agency that administers adjudicated basins in Santa Clara County with active recharge, water treatment, and wholesale supply operations. Comparable in integrated groundwater and surface water management role.
• Orange County Water District: Large groundwater management agency operating the Orange County Groundwater Basin with active recharge and PFAS treatment programs. Comparable in groundwater management and replenishment mandate, though larger and broader in geographic and functional scope.
• Water Replenishment District of Southern California: Groundwater management agency responsible for replenishment and water quality protection in the Central and West Coast Basins in LA County. Closely comparable function of administering groundwater adjudication, replenishment, and brine management.
• Six Basins Watermaster: Watermaster established under a 1998 Judgment to manage adjudicated groundwater rights across six interconnected basins in the San Gabriel Valley. Directly comparable in scope, structure, and adjudicated-basin mandate.
• Main San Gabriel Basin Watermaster: California court-appointed watermaster administering adjudicated groundwater rights in the Main San Gabriel Basin. Closest structural analog to Chino Basin Watermaster, sharing the same judgment-based governance and three-pool-style stakeholder framework.
• Raymond Basin Management Board: Adjudicated groundwater management body for the Raymond Basin in the San Gabriel Valley. Mirrors Chino Basin Watermaster's role of administering water rights, safe yield, and replenishment under a court judgment.

Others

• Chino Basin Desalter Authority (CDA): Joint powers authority operating groundwater desalination plants in the lower Chino Basin to treat contaminated plume water. Adjacent but tightly linked to Watermaster's groundwater quality and replenishment mission.

Regional players

• Western Municipal Water District: Retail water provider in western Riverside County that is both a Judgment party to the Chino Basin OBMP and a peer in operating groundwater-reliable supply in the Inland Empire.
• San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District: Regional water wholesaler for the San Bernardino Valley that coordinates imported water and groundwater recharge in the same geography as Chino Basin Watermaster. Comparable on conjunctive-use and basin management coordination but broader in scope.
• Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA): Regional wastewater and imported water wholesaler that is also a core OBMP implementation partner of Chino Basin Watermaster. Overlaps on recycled water, recharge, and imported water coordination but operates as a broader wholesale utility.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/100064336793541
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/chino-basin-watermaster

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Chino Basin Watermaster