The Development of Water Supplies and Water Conservation

Abstract

People have used Chino Basin groundwater and the surface streams in the basin for many years. The primary early use was for agriculture (including ranching as well as crop cultivation) and household supply. Over time, as development of the area proceeded and water use grew, the first efforts to enhance and protect the basin’s water resources were initiated, which included the capture and retention of stream flows to encourage groundwater replenishment. Multiple water companies, water agencies, and water associations were formed during the early 1900s and many participated in these conservation and protection efforts. Those efforts had ramifications for downstream users outside Chino Basin as well. Communities and individual users organized the Chino Basin Protective Association for several purposes but especially to guard against downstream efforts to limit Chino Basin water production and water conservation activities. This chapter traces the growth of developed water use in the basin from the 1800s into the twentieth century, and the formation of the Protective Association.