Chino Basin auction postponed as bidders take fright

The Chino Basin Watermaster has postponed the $60 million water auction it was due to hold on 4th November after potential bidders expressed concerns about accessing the water.

“We had enough applications from bidders,” Watermaster CEO Ken Manning explained, “but we had a number of people who were coming to us and voicing their concern about the strategy for recovering the water.” Investors were worried that the local water agencies who could transport water to customers on their behalf might demand an unreasonably large proportion of the value of the water for the service. “They [the potential bidders] wanted to have more certainty as to what the cost would be and not just to have a sample agreement, but specific agreements with agencies.”

The Watermaster hopes to arrange fixed price agreements with agencies before fixing a new date for the auction in spring 2010.