Shake up on powerful Kern water board
Ted Page, a long-serving director of the powerful Kern County Water Agency, announced his resignation from the board Wednesday, according to an agency press release.
“Due to recent personal life changes, I am no longer able to dedicate the time and focus that this role demands,” the release quotes Page.
His current term ends Dec. 4, 2026.
Page had served on the agency board for 14 years, including 10 as its president.
Page was briefly voted out as president in 2020 in favor of fellow director and former Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District board president Royce Fast. Water managers, at the time, said the agency wasn’t focused enough on local issues and that other people needed an opportunity to lead.
Page later regained the position of president until earlier this year when fellow director Eric Averett was voted in as president. Averett, Chief Executive Officer for a private water broker called Atlas Water LLC, was previously the long-time General Manager for Rosedale-Rio Bravo.
Page has been a strong champion of the Delta Conveyance Project (earlier known as the California WaterFix), or tunnel, touted as a means of improving reliability of water exported from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
The $20 billion project is just now moving into the planning and pre-construction phase, which requires a $30-million commitment from the agency and its member agricultural water districts. Water districts are still considering their support and the agency is expected to vote on the issue later this month.
Page was a farmer for many years and also worked as a consultant for Sandridge Partners, a large, multi-county organization controlled by John Vidovich. Vidovich is a controversial figure in valley water circles for, among other things, having sold rights to 14,000 acre feet of water from the Dudley Ridge Water District in 2009.
Before being elected to the agency board, Page served as a member of the Semitropic Water Storage District Board of Directors and the Buttonwillow Community Water and Sewer Board of Directors.
The process to fill Page’s seat will commence immediately and be completed over the next 60 days, according to the agency press release. Registered voters who live in the agency’s Division 1, which covers a large chunk of northwest Kern County, may submit a “statement of interest” to fill the seat to the agency at info@kcwa.com by March 24, 5 p.m.
The Agency is the second largest contractor on the State Water Project, able to bring close to one million acre feet of water to local farms and drinking water agencies when the state has enough water. Thirteen area agricultural water districts get their supplies through the Agency’s contract with the state and are considered “member units” of the Agency.
Locally, the agency provides wholesale supplies to water purveyors serving large sections of east Bakersfield. It owns rights to high flow water on the Kern River. It is one of six entities that control the massive Kern Water Bank. And it is one of three members that govern the Kern River Groundwater Sustainability Agency, which monitors water tables and can set pumping limits.
The agency also controls the movement of significant amounts of water into and out of the county through its Cross Valley Canal, which can move water east and west from the California Aqueduct, connecting to numerous other canals all the way to central Bakersfield.
The agency is partially funded through property taxes, which is why agency board members are elected by all voters in their Divisions.
