FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. – Orange County Water District board member, Wes Bannister, was recently elected president of the board of directors for the Association of California Water Agencies Joint Powers Insurance Authority (ACWA/JPIA).  ACWA/JPIA is a pool of California water agencies working together to share the insurance risks involved with being a water supplier.  It provides risk-sharing pools to meet the needs of its members for property, liability and workers’ compensation coverage, and is a cost-effective form of risk management available only to public entities.  This effective program allows water agencies to avoid the high cost of commercial insurance from the private sector. 

ACWA JPIA was formed in 1979 by the water agencies of California.  The JPIA is a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) and its formation and operation are subject to the provisions of the California government code.    Prospective members of the pool must demonstrate a commitment to the effective risk management programs.

As the elected president of the JPIA board or directors, Bannister will serve as the chairman of the board’s executive committee.  He has served as the OCWD representative to the JPIA’s board of directors since 1992.  He was elected to the Governing Committee in 1993 and has served as the vice president of the board of directors.

Bannister is currently the chairman of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.  The water agency responsible for providing imported water from Northern California and the Colorado River to all of Southern California from Ventura to the U.S./Mexican border.  He has been on that board since 1993, representing the Municipal Water District of Orange County.

Director Bannister represents division six of the Orange County Water District board, a service area that includes Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and parts of Westminster.  Bannister served on the Huntington Beach City Council from 1986 to l990 holding the position of mayor in l989.  He served on the Orange County Sanitation District board of directors from 1988 to l990. Bannister was also the Republican nominee for the California Insurance Commissioner position in 1990 and nominated to the Electoral College by President Bush in that same year.  In 1974, Bannister founded Bannister and Associates Insurance Agency. 

Orange County Water District (OCWD) manages the large groundwater basin that underlies North-Central Orange County that provides most of the water for 2.3 million citizens. OCWD is committed to constantly improving Orange County’s groundwater quality and reliability in an environmentally friendly manner. With years of prudent planning and careful investment, OCWD has doubled the yield of the groundwater basin. Recently, the basin, larger that the largest reservoir in Southern California, sustained the County through a five-year drought. OCWD has also spent millions of dollar on studies by outside experts to ensure the quality of our groundwater. We want to be your trusted source for water quality. We will continue to plan and invest in ways to get more water into and out of the basin. OCWD is a special district, separate from the County of Orange, that supplies to residents in the cities of Anaheim, Buena Park, Cypress, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Irvine, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Newport Beach, Orange, Placentia, Santa Ana, Seal Beach, Stanton, Tustin, Villa Park, Westminster and Yorba Linda.