John Withers
Water District Board · Division 1
Controls: your water & sewer rates.
Civio maps government as seen from Lake Forest, California. Districted seats like this one cover part of the city — enter your address to see the exact roster that governs you. Your address never leaves your device.
1What can this job do?
This board runs the Irvine Ranch Water District — the public agency that delivers your drinking water and handles your sewer service. The five directors set the rates you pay for water and wastewater, approve the budget, and decide on the pipes, reservoirs, and treatment that keep water flowing. IRWD elects its board by division, so one of these directors represents your specific part of the district.
It does NOT control how much water California gives the region in a drought (the state and big wholesalers do), and it cannot tax your income or property — its money comes from the rates customers pay. It does not run your city or your schools.
2What has this person done with it?
We don't yet track a record of this official's actions here. For local offices, the public record lives in the body's own minutes, agendas, and recorded votes — published on its official website — and in the Orange County Registrar of Voters' . Those are the primary sources to check; we'd rather say "we don't know yet" than summarize selectively.
We only log matters of public record, in the same format for every official — never opinion or news coverage.
3How does this affect you?
If your home is in the Irvine Ranch Water District, this is your one director on the board that runs your water. The board sets the rates you pay for water and sewer service and decides how the district keeps your water supply running. IRWD elects directors by division, so this seat is YOUR specific vote on the board -- you elect the director for your division, and the other four divisions elect theirs.
4How do you change it?
This is an elected seat with a four-year term. IRWD elects by division, so you vote for the one director who represents your division of the district. The seats are on the regular November ballot. Registration, polling place, and mail ballots run through the Orange County Registrar of Voters (ocvote.gov). Water board elections are among the quietest on the ballot, and they set a bill you pay every month — a sensible one to be reminded about.
This seat is expected on the ballot November 7, 2028 — that's the county's forecast, not yet the official notice of election.