Organization/Board
Pictured left to right: Scott Slater – Not board member but legal counsel, Ken Manning – Chino Basin Watermaster, CEO, Mark Wildermuth – Not board member but Wildermuth Environmental, Inc. – engineer, Bob Bowcock, Bob Kuhn, Michael Camacho, Ken Willis, Chairman, Geoffrey Vanden Heuvel, Paul Hofer, Tom Haughey, Michael Whitehead, Charles Field
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.
Following is a list of representatives currently serving
on the Watermaster Board:
 2010 Board Representatives
Board Member Rotation Schedule
Kenneth Willis, Chairman
Kenneth Willis is President and founder of the League of California Homeowners (LCH). A not-for-profit corporation, LCH specializes in residential energy conservation and provides consumer help and information for home remodeling projects. LCH provides a unique resource center for contractor screening services both for consumers as well as financial institutions and utility companies.
Ken was first elected to the Upland City Council in 2000. As Chairman of the Public Works Committee, he helps oversee Upland’s water department. In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors for both the West End Consolidated Water Company as well as the San Antonio Water Company. Mr. Willis also serves on the Policy Review Committee for the Inland Empire Utilities Agency. In 2006, Mr. Willis was elected Chairman of the Chino Basin Water Master Board.
In the 1980’s, Ken served as Vice-Chairman of the California State Water Resources Control Board and previous to that, served as Vice-Chairman of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board for the Santa Ana River.
For several years Mr. Willis served as Executive Vice President of the Building Industry Association of Southern California, a trade group affiliated with the National Association of HomeBuilders. During that time he was heavily involved in local, state and federal legislation affecting home building.
In addition to public duties, Mr. Willis is a founding director and continues to serve on the Board for the Upland Partnership for Child Development. He is also a founder and past board member to the Upland Youth Accountability Board.
In his formative years right out of college, Mr. Willis worked in city planning wherein he specialized in land use and zoning regulation. A graduate of California Polytechnic University, Pomona, Ken also holds an MA in Urban Studies from Occidental College in Los Angeles. Ken received post-graduate training in public affairs and policy development as a CORO Foundation Fellow (Los Angeles Class - ‘76). While serving in the U.S. Army, Ken spent two years in Vietnam with the 1st Air Cavalry Division and MACV. A California native, Ken lives with his wife Jane, and daughter Elizabeth in Upland, California.
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Michael Camacho Vice-Chair
Bio to follow
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Michael Whitehead, Secretary/Treasurer
Michael Whitehead is President and Chief Operating Officer of San Gabriel Valley Water Company, which operates public water utility systems in 17 cities and unincorporated areas in the San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles County and as Fontana Water Company in the cities of Fontana and Rialto and parts of San Bernardino County. Mr. Whitehead is presently a member of the board of the San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority and previously served as a member of the Chino Basin Watermaster and the Main San Gabriel Basin Watermaster.
Mr. Whitehead joined San Gabriel Valley Water Company in 1979 as Vice President and General Counsel and in 1989 was named president of the company. Since joining the company, Mr. Whitehead has been actively involved in the management of the company and as General Counsel supervised the company’s general corporate legal matters, having devoted particular attention to matters involving water law, environmental protection, eminent domain, and public utility law.
Mr. Whitehead is also an officer and director of Fontana Union Water Company, a mutual water company, and Arizona Water Company, one of the largest investor-owned water utilities in the state of Arizona. In addition, he is a member of the American Water Works Association, a director and past president of the California Water Association, a director of the National Association of Water Companies, and is a member of the California Bar Association and its Public Utility Law Section. |
Charles D. Field, Member
Charles D. Field was voted to the Western Municipal Water District board in November 2006 and was seated in January 2007. Mr. Field is a retired judge of the Riverside County Superior Court.
Mr. Field, who was born in San Francisco, grew up in the Stanford and Los Angeles regions of California as well as in Washington, D.C. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Riverside in 1958, and a law degree from UCLA in 1963. From 1963 to 1990, Mr. Field practiced law with the Riverside firm, Best, Best & Krieger. He was a senior partner in the labor and employment section and served a full term as managing partner of the firm.
Judge Field was appointed to the Riverside Superior Court in January 1990 by then Governor Deukmejian. He was first assigned to the Juvenile Court, then moved to the Civil Division where he served until his retirement in August 2004.
Mr. Field was involved in a variety of organizations during his 40-plus year career including service on the UCR Alumni Association Board of Directors and the Board of Regents of the University of California. He was founding chair of the UCR Foundation and is past president of the Citizens University Committee. As an attorney, Mr. Field was a member of the Commission on Specialization in Labor Law of the California State Bar from Riverside County and was one of the founding members of the California Council of School Attorneys. He was a member of the Board of the Public Service Law Corp. or Riverside County and continues to serve as a board member of the Riverside County Law Library. Mr. Field served for more than 10 years on the board of directors of the Riverside Arts Foundation where he was chair for two years. For approximately 15 years, he was a member of the board of directors of The Press-Enterprise Company.
Mr. Field is married to Virginia L. Field, a retired UCR administrator, and they share five children and 11 grandchildren. He remains active as a private mediator and in University of California activities and serves on the board of several community service organizations, including the Riverside Philharmonic and the Mission Inn Foundation. |
Paul Hofer, Member
Paul Hofer
represents the Agricultural Pool. Mr. Hofer has served
on the Chino Basin Water Conservation District Board
of Directors since 1996, and is currently serving as
Vice-President. Mr. Hofer is a resident of Ontario
where he has spent his lifetime career as a farmer. |
Geoffrey Vanden Heuvel, Member
As the owner/operator of J & D Star Dairy in Chino, California and a dairy industry consultant, Mr. Vanden Heuvel has been a business and community leader for nearly twenty-five years.
Mr. Vanden Heuvel’s primary responsibility is managing a dairy operation which milks over 1,400 cows on two facilities, as well as maintaining an alfalfa farming operation in Blythe, California. Mr. Vanden Heuvel also does consulting on state and federal milk pricing issues for Milk Producers Council, a dairy producer trade association, where he is also a member of the board of directors.
Mr. Vanden Heuvel is very interested and involved in water issues. In 1994, he founded the Delta Restoration Coalition, a statewide group of urban and agricultural leaders dedicated to achieving a long-term fix for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. He then served on the Executive Committee of the Californian’s for Safe, Clean, and Reliable Water; Yes on Proposition 204 campaign. Currently Mr. Vanden Heuvel is a Trustee and a member of the Executive Committee of the Southern California Water Committee. He serves on the Bay-Delta and Colorado River Task Forces of the Water Committee. He currently represents agricultural groundwater users on the Chino Basin Watermaster Board. He serves as an elected director of the Chino Basin Water Conservation District and he serves on the San Bernardino County Flood Control Zone 1 Advisory Committee.
Mr. Vanden Heuvel is a founding board member of the Dairy Producers Environmental Foundation and played a significant role in the inception of the Santa Ana River Watershed Group. He has served as a director of the Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce, as well as served on the Chino Unified School District’s Bond Oversight Committee. In the past he has served on the City of Chino Mobile Home Rent Review Board, The Chino Hills Municipal Advisory Council, and a variety of ad hoc committees dealing with issues as diverse as the purchase of a private water company by the county of San Bernardino, to advising the California Secretary of Agriculture about how to address low milk prices.
Mr. Vanden Heuvel is active in his church where he is an elder. He has served on the Board of Directors of Ontario Christian School where his children attend as well as serving as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Providence Christian College in Ontario, California.
Mr. Vanden Heuvel likes to read, sail and play softball in his spare time.
Mr. Vanden Heuvel and his wife Darlene have been married for twenty-six years and have four children. |
Bob G. Kuhn, Member
Bob Kuhn has been a resident of Glendora for over 30 years and served eight years on the Glendora City Council, most notably as Mayor in 1990-91 and 1993-94. He was a delegate to the League of California Cities, San Gabriel Valley Association of Cities, and Southern California Association of Governments. He is a member and past President of Foothill Transit and has served as President for the Independent Cities Risk Management Authority. Director Kuhn has been a member of the Glendora Planning Commission, the East San Gabriel Valley Planning Committee and alternate member for the Local Agency Formation Commission. He is also a member of the Foothill Presbyterian Hospital Men's Club. Director Kuhn is President of a Glendora based insurance agency. |
Robert Bowcock, Member
Mr. Robert Bowcock has been appointed to serve on several Watermaster Boards by California Superior Courts since 1990. He currently represents municipal, industrial and commercial parties in the Chino, San Gabriel, Raymond, Mojave, Central and West Los Angeles, Upper Los Angeles River, Santa Clara and San Diego River Basin Judgments in California. Mr. Bowcock founded Integrated Resource Management, LLC in 1997 after serving as a Water Utility Manager in Azusa (1991-97) and Huntington Park (1987-91), California. Prior to that, Mr. Bowcock worked for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (1982-87), and as a United States Army Civil Affairs Team Leader designed and constructed water treatment and distribution systems for various federal branches of government in Southeast Asia and South America. He is a licensed California Grade V Water Treatment Operator and maintains various other water industry licenses and certifications. He routinely provides expert witness testimony to both state and federal courts and conducts research and writes reports for legal firms in the specific area of water resource management. |
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Tom Haughey, Member
Bio to follow |
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