Election 2026 · Los Angeles County
Water Replenishment District Board, Division 3
Al Austin, Tracy Burns, Mike Murchison and Tonia Reyes Uranga are the candidates for Water Replenishment District Board, Division 3 on the November 3, 2026 ballot.
The Water Replenishment District of Southern California (WRD) manages the Central and West Coast groundwater basins under southern Los Angeles County, including part of the City of Los Angeles. A five-member board, one director per division, sets the charge on every acre-foot of groundwater pumped from the basins and runs the district's recycling, replenishment and cleanup projects.
Summary by CityHallPass, not the official text or legal advice. The official text controls: LA County's official election information.
| Who votes | Voters in Division 3 of the Water Replenishment District: Artesia, Cerritos, Hawaiian Gardens, Lakewood, Long Beach and Signal Hill, plus part of the City of Los Angeles in the Harbor area, including Wilmington and parts of San Pedro and Harbor City |
|---|---|
| Term and pay | Four-year term (Water Code 60134). WRD's proposed 2026-27 budget sets aside $441,971 for directors' stipends for the five-member board, an average of about $88,400 per director (our calculation). |
| How it works | No primary. All four candidates are on the November 3 ballot, and whoever gets the most votes wins, even without a majority. The current Division 3 director, John D. S. Allen, is not on the ballot, so the seat is open. |
| Party labels | Nonpartisan |
What it means for the City of LA
WRD manages the Central and West Coast groundwater basins, and its service area includes part of the City of Los Angeles. The board sets the replenishment assessment charged on groundwater pumped from the basins: $480 per acre-foot for 2026-27, plus $12 per acre-foot for PFAS cleanup. The City's Department of Water and Power (LADWP) holds pumping rights in both basins, 17,236 acre-feet allowed in the Central Basin and 1,503 acre-feet in the West Coast Basin for 2024-25, but reported no regular pumping from either that year and withdrew 16.56 acre-feet from its Central Basin storage account. The Dominguez Gap seawater barrier, which WRD pays to supply, is fed recycled water from the City's Terminal Island plant. City voters in Wilmington and parts of San Pedro and Harbor City are in Division 3.
At a glance
| Al Austin | Tracy Burns | Mike Murchison | Tonia Reyes Uranga | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Last WRD race | None | None | 2022, Division 3, 27.0% (second of three) | 2014, Division 3, 12.8% (fourth of six) |
| Elected office held | Long Beach City Council, 2012-2024 | None found | None found | Long Beach City Council, 2002-2010 |
| County voter-guide statement | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Latest public poll | None found | None found | None found | None found |
| Money raised | Form 460 filed; totals not yet read | Says she is not fundraising; Form 470 filed (under $2,000) | Form 460 filed; totals not yet read | Form 460 filed; totals not yet read |
The candidates
Al Austin
Austin represented Long Beach's 8th Council District from 2012 to 2024 (Long Beach Utilities bio). Mayor Rex Richardson appointed him to the Long Beach Board of Utilities Commissioners on Sept. 2, 2025, the City Council confirmed him Sept. 16, 2025, and he is the board's secretary (Long Beach Utilities bio). He has worked for AFSCME, most recently as political and legislative director of AFSCME Council 57, and holds a bachelor's degree in public administration from the University of La Verne (Long Beach Utilities bio). He lost the 69th Assembly District race in 2022 with 41.1% (LA County results).
Tracy Burns
Burns describes herself as a retired Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department sergeant who co-founded one business and helped build another (campaign site). She says she volunteers with Youth Champions and the Long Beach VA food pantry and is a board member and veterans chair for the Daughters of the American Revolution (campaign site). She filed no candidate statement for the County voter guide (County contest data). No past race for public office was found.
Mike Murchison
Murchison, 61, says he is a Long Beach native who attended Wilson High School and USC (County candidate statement). His campaign says he worked in local government and at the engineering firm Earth Tech, now owns a small business, and spent about a decade on the effort to restore the Los Cerritos Wetlands (campaign site). He ran for this seat in 2022 and placed second of three with 27.0% (LA County results).
Tonia Reyes Uranga
Reyes Uranga represented Long Beach's 7th Council District from 2002 to 2010 (Historical Society of Long Beach finding aid; campaign site). Her campaign says she sat on the South Coast Air Quality Management District and Los Angeles County Sanitation District boards while in office, ran the consulting firm TRUConsult until 2023, and was the first executive director of the Miguel Contreras Foundation (campaign site). She ran for this seat in 2014 (12.8%) and for the Long Beach Unified school board in 2020, losing the runoff with 48.4% (2014 results; 2020 results). She filed no candidate statement for the County voter guide (County contest data).
The job
Powers. WRD is the groundwater manager for the Central Basin and the West Coast Basin. It serves about 4 million people in 43 cities across 420 square miles of southern Los Angeles County, including part of the City of Los Angeles (WRD). Those cities use about 220,000 acre-feet of groundwater a year, nearly half the region’s water supply (WRD). WRD buys water to refill the basins at the Montebello Forebay spreading grounds and pays to supply three seawater barriers that keep the ocean out of the aquifers (2026 Engineering Survey and Report). It owns two advanced water treatment plants and a groundwater desalter (WRD). Since 2013 and 2014 a court has made WRD the Watermaster for both basins, so it keeps the books on each party’s pumping rights, leases and storage (WRD).
The board. Five directors, one elected from each division, serve four-year terms (Water Code 60131; Water Code 60134). Divisions 1, 3 and 4 are on the 2026 ballot (County list of offices). The proposed 2026-27 budget lists $441,971 in directors’ stipends and $135,060 in other board expenses (FY 2027 Budget Summary).
The charge on pumping. The board sets a replenishment assessment on each acre-foot of groundwater pumped. On April 28, 2026 it raised the 2026-27 rate by $26, or 5.6%, from $454 to $480 per acre-foot (2026 Engineering Survey and Report). A separate $12 per acre-foot pays for the PFAS cleanup program (staff report). Staff first projected a 14.9% increase ($521). The board adopted a 6.6% upper limit on March 17, 2026, and the final rate came in at 5.6% (staff report). The pumpers’ Budget Advisory Committee met four times and did not reach a consensus recommendation on the upper limit (budget presentation).
Budget. The 2026-27 cost of service is $82.1 million, spread over an estimated 171,254 acre-feet of assessable pumping (FY 2027 Budget Summary). The largest line is water purchases, $44.9 million. Other large items are the Albert Robles Center ($8.7 million), the Leo J. Vander Lans plant ($8.3 million) and the PFAS program ($9.2 million, including $8.75 million in grants) (FY 2027 Budget Summary). WRD expects the seawater barriers to need 26,200 acre-feet in 2026-27, including 8,000 acre-feet at the Dominguez Gap barrier (2026 Engineering Survey and Report).
Division 3. WRD lists Division 3 as Artesia, Cerritos, Hawaiian Gardens, Lakewood, Long Beach, Signal Hill and Wilmington (WRD). John D. S. Allen has held the seat since winning it on Nov. 4, 2014 with 32.1% in a six-way race (WRD; 2014 results). No Division 3 contest was on the 2018 ballot (2018 results). Allen won again in 2022 with 49.6% (2022 results). He is not on the 2026 ballot (County candidate list).
How the seat is filled. Directors are elected at the November general election (Water Code 60135). There is no primary, and the candidate with the most votes wins (Elections Code 15452).
The City of LA in detail
- Which City voters get this race. County ballot data puts the contest on City ballot types 2TT22 and 2V422, which also list the Mayor and City Attorney races (2TT22; 2V422). Examples: Avalon Boulevard in Wilmington, Pacific Avenue in San Pedro, 931 S. Gaffey St. in San Pedro, and part of Pacific Coast Highway in Harbor City (County street data: Avalon; Pacific; Gaffey).
- Which City voters do not. Some Harbor-area addresses are in another WRD division. Odd-numbered addresses on N. Gaffey Street from 1001 to 3551 get ballot type 2V322, which has no WRD contest (County street data; 2V322). WRD’s own division lists name “City of Los Angeles (including San Pedro and Wilmington)” under Division 2 (WRD). The County ballot data decides which race a voter sees.
- Council district. Comparing WRD’s division map with the County’s City and Council boundary layers, every part of Division 3 inside the City is in Council District 15 (WRD division map; County GIS; our measurement).
- LADWP and the basins. For 2024-25 the City’s Department of Water and Power had an allowed pumping allocation of 17,236 acre-feet in the Central Basin. It reported no regular pumping and withdrew 16.56 acre-feet from its storage account there (Central Basin Watermaster report, Table 1a). In the West Coast Basin it holds a 1,503 acre-foot right and reported no pumping (West Coast Basin Watermaster report, Table 1). WRD counts water withdrawn from storage as non-assessable pumping (2026 Engineering Survey and Report). LADWP served customers in the two basin areas mostly with imported water: 30,762 acre-feet in the Central Basin and 27,302 acre-feet in the West Coast Basin that year (Central Basin report, Table 17; West Coast Basin report, Table 17).
- City water in the barrier. The Dominguez Gap barrier runs on advanced-treated recycled water from the City’s Terminal Island plant. The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board permitted the plant to supply the barrier with 100% recycled water in 2016 (2026 Engineering Survey and Report). WRD and LADWP completed a joint groundwater master plan, and its storage and augmentation concepts are to be evaluated further in LADWP’s Pure Water Los Angeles project (2026 Engineering Survey and Report).
- How many City voters. We did not find a count of registered voters in the City part of Division 3.
Records
Al Austin
Long Beach City Council, 2012-2024. Austin represented the 8th District for three terms (Long Beach Utilities bio). In his last race he placed second in the March 3, 2020 primary with 31.8%, then beat Tunua Thrash-Ntuk in the Nov. 3, 2020 runoff with 56.8% (March 2020 results; November 2020 results). Random Lengths News reported that he chaired the Council’s Budget Oversight Committee (Random Lengths News, June 30, 2026).
Utilities Commission, 2025 to now. He took his seat on the Board of Utilities Commissioners on Oct. 16, 2025, succeeding Naomi Rainey. The board oversees Long Beach’s water, gas and sewer utility (Long Beach Utilities bio; court minute order). In court papers he said the post requires him to attend about 8 to 10 commission and committee meetings a month (court minute order).
Other races. He placed ninth of 12 in the March 26, 2019 special primary for State Senate District 33, with 3.9% (LA County results). In 2022 he ran for the 69th Assembly District. He placed second in the June primary with 26.6% and lost to Josh Lowenthal in November, 58.9% to 41.1% (June 2022 results; November 2022 results).
Career. He started as an aerospace worker at McDonnell Douglas. He was later a field representative for state Sen. Kevin Murray and campaign director for the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor (Long Beach Utilities bio).
Ethics and court records. No FPPC enforcement case naming him or his committee appears on the Commission’s hearing agendas from 2018 through October 2026 (FPPC Commission hearings; searched Oct. 10, 2026). For the court ruling on his ballot designation, see Key moments.
Tracy Burns
Career. Burns describes herself as a retired Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department sergeant. She also says she co-founded one company and helped build another into an Inc. 5000 company (campaign site). Her ballot designation is Small Businesswoman (County contest data).
Past races. None found in County election results.
Ethics and court records. No FPPC enforcement case naming her or her committee appears on the Commission’s hearing agendas from 2018 through October 2026 (FPPC Commission hearings; searched Oct. 10, 2026).
Mike Murchison
Career. Murchison’s campaign says he worked in local government, then for Earth Tech helping cities design, finance, build and run water treatment and delivery systems, and now owns a small business (campaign site). It says he worked for about a decade on turning an oil field into more than 150 acres of restored Los Cerritos Wetlands and open space. It also says he is a trustee of the Bess Hodges Foundation and the Clancy Foundation (campaign site).
Past races. He ran for Division 3 in 2022 and placed second with 38,126 votes (27.0%), behind Allen (49.6%) and ahead of Gerrie Schipske (23.5%) (2022 results).
Ethics and court records. No FPPC enforcement case naming him or his committee appears on the Commission’s hearing agendas from 2018 through October 2026 (FPPC Commission hearings; searched Oct. 10, 2026).
Tonia Reyes Uranga
Long Beach City Council, 2002-2010. She represented the 7th District from 2002 to 2010 (Historical Society of Long Beach finding aid). Her campaign says she also served on the South Coast Air Quality Management District board and the Los Angeles County Sanitation District board during that time (campaign site).
Past races. She ran for Division 3 in 2014 and placed fourth of six with 12,459 votes (12.8%) (2014 results). In 2020 she led the March primary for Long Beach Unified School District 2 with 42.6%, then lost the November runoff to Erik Miller, 51.6% to 48.4% (March 2020 results; November 2020 results).
Career. Her campaign says she ran TRUConsult, a workforce and municipal policy firm, until 2023. It also says she serves on the advisory board of Water Education for Latino Leaders and on the board of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (campaign site).
Ethics and court records. No FPPC enforcement case naming her or her committee appears on the Commission’s hearing agendas from 2018 through October 2026 (FPPC Commission hearings; searched Oct. 10, 2026). For her court petition over another candidate’s ballot designation, see Key moments.
Where they stand
No 2026 debate, forum or media questionnaire for this race was found. The issues below come from the district’s current business: the 2026-27 rate increase, local water supply, PFAS cleanup and spending oversight (staff report; 2026 Engineering Survey and Report). Austin’s and Murchison’s positions are from their County candidate statements and campaign sites. Burns and Reyes Uranga filed no County statement, so theirs are from their campaign sites (County contest data).
| Issue | Al Austin | Tracy Burns | Mike Murchison | Tonia Reyes Uranga |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Replenishment assessment (rates) | No specific proposal; lists “Keeping rates affordable” as a priority (County statement). | Require “efficiency and cost-saving measures before asking families and businesses to pay more”; no rate target (campaign site). | No specific proposal; pledges a “reliable, affordable water supply” (County statement). | No specific proposal; lists “Affordable water access for all” (campaign site). |
| Local water supply | No specific proposal; lists “Building groundwater capacity and resilience” (County statement). | A review of expanded replenishment and recycling, brackish groundwater treatment, stormwater capture and desalination, with full cost and rate impacts (campaign site). | No specific proposal; pledges to “invest wisely in replenishment” (County statement). | No specific proposal; lists “Self-sustaining water policy” (campaign site). |
| New large water users | No specific proposal. | For data centers: disclosure of projected water use and peak demand, drought plans, priority for recycled water, independent verification and enforceable conservation targets, and no shifting of costs to existing customers (campaign site). | No specific proposal. | No specific proposal. |
| Water quality and PFAS | No specific proposal. | No specific proposal; pledges to “safeguard the quality” of groundwater (campaign site). | No specific proposal. | No specific proposal; lists “Environmental Justice” (campaign site). |
| Spending and oversight | No specific proposal; lists “Making long-term sustainable investments” (County statement). | No specific proposal; pledges that “taxpayer dollars are spent carefully and transparently” (campaign site). | No specific proposal; says “every dollar should be accounted for” (County statement). | No specific proposal. |
On the other ballot measures
City of Los Angeles voters in Division 3 also decide 14 state propositions, County Measures A and E, and City measures TE, LA, PL, EE, PRK, PRT, FD and SC (ballot type 2V422). WRD placed no measure on this ballot. No statement by any Division 3 candidate on these measures was found on campaign sites or in news coverage.
| Measures | Al Austin | Tracy Burns | Mike Murchison | Tonia Reyes Uranga |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| State Props 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 and 45 | No stated position | No stated position | No stated position | No stated position |
| County Measures A and E | No stated position | No stated position | No stated position | No stated position |
| City measures TE, LA, PL, EE, PRK, PRT, FD and SC (City voters only) | No stated position | No stated position | No stated position | No stated position |
Endorsements
No newspaper editorial board endorsement in this race was found as of Oct. 10, 2026. Artesia Councilmembers Melissa Ramoso and Ali Taj appear on both Austin’s and Murchison’s lists.
Al Austin
From his campaign endorsements page, checked Oct. 10, 2026:
- Elected officials: Rep. Robert Garcia; state Sen. Laura Richardson; Assemblymembers Josh Lowenthal and José Luis Solache.
- Water officials: WRD Directors John D. S. Allen (the current Division 3 director), Joy Langford and Robert Katherman; Metropolitan Water District Board President Adán Ortega (as listed); West Basin Directors Tommy Faavae and Gloria Gray; Central Basin Directors Juan Garza and Gary Mendez; Upper San Gabriel Valley Directors Anthony Fellows and Charles Treviño.
- Local officials: Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson, City Auditor Laura Doud, City Prosecutor Doug Haubert and Councilmember Kristina Duggan; Long Beach Harbor Commissioners Sharon Weissman and Steve Neal; Long Beach Unified board members Doug Otto and Erik Miller; Artesia Councilmembers Melissa Ramoso and Ali Taj; Cerritos Mayor Pro Tem Mark Pulido and Councilmember Frank Aurelio Yokoyama; Hawaiian Gardens Councilmember Victor Farfan; Lakewood Mayor Jeff Wood and Councilmembers Cassandra Chase and David Arrellano.
- Unions and organizations (shown as logos): Los Angeles County Federation of Labor; LA/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council; IBEW Local 11; Ironworkers Locals 416 and 433; LiUNA Local 1309; UA Local 250; UAW Region 6; AFSCME Local 1902; LA League of Conservation Voters.
- The page also lists 24 people as community leaders.
Tracy Burns
No endorsements found. Her campaign site lists none.
Mike Murchison
From his campaign endorsements page, checked Oct. 10, 2026:
- Union: Western States Regional Council of Carpenters.
- Los Angeles: City Councilmember Tim McOsker (District 15, which includes the City part of Division 3); former Councilmembers Joe Buscaino and Rudy Svorinich.
- Long Beach: Councilmembers Mary Zendejas, Cindy Allen, Daryl Supernaw and Joni Ricks-Oddie; former Councilmembers Gary DeLong and Rae Gabelich.
- Artesia: Mayor Rene Trevino, Mayor Pro Tem Melissa Ramoso and Councilmembers Ali Taj, Zeel Ahir and Monica Manalo.
- Signal Hill: Mayor Tina Hansen, Vice Mayor Charlie Honeycutt and Councilmembers Keir Jones, Lori Woods and Robert Copeland.
- Organizations: Long Beach Restaurant Association.
Tonia Reyes Uranga
- Union: UNITE HERE Local 11 lists her for WRD Division 3 in its November 2026 voter guide (UNITE HERE Local 11).
- Her campaign site lists no endorsements.
Polls
No public polls of this race were found.
Money
WRD candidates file campaign reports with the LA County Registrar on NetFile (County NetFile portal). The County’s filing index on NetFile lists the reports below through Sept. 29, 2026. We have not been able to open the reports themselves, so raised and spent totals are not shown. A Form 470 is the short statement for a candidate who expects to raise and spend less than $2,000 in the year; a Form 497 reports a contribution of $1,000 or more received in the 90 days before the election.
| Al Austin | Tracy Burns | Mike Murchison | Tonia Reyes Uranga | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Committee | Al Austin for WRD Director 2026, ID 1490958 (campaign site) | None found | Murchison for WRD 2026 (campaign site) | Tonia Reyes Uranga for Water Board 2026, ID 1495452 (campaign site) |
| Filings on record | Form 460 filed July 20, 2026, covering through June 30, 2026 (report); Form 460 filed Sept. 23, 2026, covering through Sept. 19, 2026 (report); 10 Form 497 late-contribution reports, Aug. 10 to Sept. 23 | Form 470 filed Aug. 7, 2026 (form) | Form 460 filed Sept. 24, 2026, covering through Sept. 19, 2026 (report); 9 Form 497 late-contribution reports, Aug. 3 to Sept. 21 | Form 460 filed Sept. 24, 2026, covering through Sept. 19, 2026 (report); 1 Form 497 late-contribution report, Sept. 1 |
| Raised, spent, cash on hand | Not retrieved | Says she is not fundraising (campaign site) | Not retrieved | Not retrieved |
| County voter-guide statement | Filed | None | Filed | None |
Burns says the Registrar quoted her more than $16,000 to print a candidate statement in the County voter guide (campaign site).
Who is giving
No donor-level data was retrieved for any candidate as of Oct. 10, 2026.
Outside spending
No independent expenditure reports could be checked as of Oct. 10, 2026.
Key moments
Debates and forums. No candidate debate or forum for Division 3 was found.
Court rules on a ballot designation (Aug. 26, 2026). Reyes Uranga petitioned the Superior Court to stop the Registrar from printing “Long Beach Water Commissioner” as Austin’s ballot designation (minute order, No. 26STCP03135). Judge Curtis A. Kin found that Austin’s work as a Long Beach Utilities Commissioner qualifies as his principal occupation. He also found that “Long Beach Water Commissioner” is “a title and position that real party does not have or hold,” because no Long Beach Water Commission exists (minute order). The court granted the petition and ordered the Registrar to disallow that designation (minute order). The ballot lists Austin as “Long Beach Utilities Commissioner” (County contest data). No public comment from Austin on the ruling was found.