Deadline to file for host of water board seats is Aug. 7
There are a host of Kern County water board seats up for election this November.
The deadline to throw your hat in the ring is August 7.
Races for water board seats don’t typically attract the kind of attention that hot congressional or even city council seats do, but they should.
Water boards are in charge of making sure your water is drinkable; they decide how much you pay for it; and make rules about whether you can run your sprinklers on Mondays or Tuesdays and for how long. Some local boards are in charge of regional and statewide issues that can impact our economy in very real ways.
One such board with four of its seven director positions up for election in November is the Kern County Water Agency. This is one of the most powerful water agencies in the county, arguably the state.
The agency is the second largest contractor for State Water Project water, giving it a great deal of statewide clout.
When questions arise about how to finance massive water infrastructure projects, such as the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta tunnel, state regulators take the pulse of two entities: the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the Kern County Water 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, not just landowners. It also represents 13 mostly agricultural water districts, called member units, that receive state water through the agency’s contract.
Only two KCWA board incumbents have filed for re-election as of July 23, according to the Kern County Elections Department.
Incumbent Jay Kroeker, a farmer, has filed to retain his Division 1 director slot. That division covers Kern County’s northwest quadrant from Highway 43 to the county’s western border and from Highway 58 to its northern line.
Incumbent Charles “Bill” Wulff, Jr., retired, has filed for his seat representing Division 5. That division covers a chunk of central to south Bakersfield.
No one, including the incumbents, have yet filed for the other two divisions.
Division 2, which covers a huge swath of eastern Kern County, is currently represented by Laura Cattani, a local rancher who was appointed to that seat in 2021.
The Division 4 seat, which covers a portion of southwest Bakersfield all the way to the county’s western and southern borders, is held by Tamara Johnson, a manager for California Water Service who was appointed in 2025.
Other water boards with open seats include:
- Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency – 2 seats
- North of the River Municipal Water District – 2 seats
- Buttonwillow County Water District – 2 seats
- Greenfield County Water District – 2 seats
- Indian Wells Valley Water District – 2 seats (one incumbent and one challenger have filed)
- Lebec County Water District – 2 seats
- Mettler County Water District – 3 seats
- North Edwards Water District – 3 seats
- Rand Communities Water District – 3 seats (one incumbent and one challenger have filed)
- Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District – 3 seats
- West Kern Water District – 2 seats (one incumbent has filed)
