Within the three years that Adel Hagekhalil has led California’s largest city water provider, the final supervisor has sought to deal with adaptation to local weather change — partially by decreasing reliance on water provides from distant sources and investing in native water provides.
His efforts to assist shift priorities on the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which has historically centered largely on delivering imported water to the area, have gained reward amongst environmental advocates who hope to scale back dependence on provides from the Colorado River and Northern California.
Nevertheless, now that Hagekhalil is underneath investigation for harassment allegations and has been positioned on depart by the MWD board, a few of his supporters say they’re involved that his sidelining would possibly intrude with the insurance policies he has helped advance.
“I would hope this doesn’t mean that we undo the progress that’s been made since Adel came in,” mentioned Conner Everts, government director of the Southern California Watershed Alliance, who has supported Hagekhalil’s insurance policies.
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The accusations towards Hagekhalil surfaced Thursday whereas he was touring in Singapore for a water convention.
Chief Monetary Officer Katano Kasaine made the allegations in a confidential letter to the board, which was leaked to the media. She mentioned Hagekhalil has harassed, demeaned and sidelined her and created a hostile work surroundings.
Hagekhalil denied the accusations, saying he has at all times handled the workers with respect and professionalism, and that the claims quantity to “disagreements on management decisions.”
The MWD board voted to put Hagekhalil on administrative depart for 90 days whereas Kasaine’s grievance and different allegations are investigated. In his place, the board briefly appointed assistant common supervisor Deven Upadhyay, who has been on the company for 29 years, as interim common supervisor.
Everts has for greater than three many years been advocating for Southern California to scale back reliance on imported water provides by boosting native provides. He mentioned he has been happy to see Hagekhalil and MWD transferring ahead with plans for the nation’s largest wastewater recycling facility in Carson, and dealing to develop a plan for adapting to local weather change.
Everts mentioned he hopes that no matter outcomes emerge from the investigations, the company doesn’t revert to an outmoded deal with imported water that he believes some “old guard” leaders of MWD nonetheless favor.
Everts, like many others who spoke at Thursday’s board assembly, mentioned the accusations demand a good and neutral investigation.
“Hopefully, Adel comes back and continues to lead in this direction. And if not, whoever would step in would do that,” Everts mentioned. “Does the culture change of the agency continue to progress? That’s my question.”
MWD is the nation’s largest wholesale provider of consuming water, serving cities and businesses that provide 19 million individuals throughout Southern California.
MWD Board Chair Adán Ortega Jr. mentioned that whereas the board made “difficult decisions” relating to the allegations towards Hagekhalil, “we maintain our commitment to the policies and direction of this organization.”
Ortega mentioned he doesn’t anticipate any change within the district’s “current policy course.”
“Our task at hand is tackling climate change,” Ortega mentioned in an interview with The Occasions. “Anybody that would challenge that is up against a pretty embedded policy framework for tackling climate change.”
Ortega was concerned in choosing Hagekhalil, who beforehand labored for town of Los Angeles and who was employed after a bitter wrestle amongst board members in 2021. Ortega mentioned his priorities as board chair have been the identical priorities that Hagkhalil has been pursuing.
As for the accusations towards Hagekhalil, Ortega mentioned he was upset that somebody leaked the confidential letter.
“I believe that whoever leaked it was trying to box in the board. But we’re not going to let them, and I don’t think it worked,” Ortega mentioned.
He mentioned all of the initiatives that Hagekhalil was engaged on will proceed underneath Upadhyay whereas the issues are investigated.
“The board drives the agenda,” he mentioned. “I think the board has been united on things that Adel and I have both shared.”
Hagekhalil has led the company at a time of main initiatives, together with negotiations aimed toward addressing water shortages on the Colorado River, plans for constructing the water recycling plant in Carson, and the MWD board’s consideration of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to construct a $20-billion water tunnel within the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
A few of Hagekhalil’s supporters questioned why the matter was delivered to the board whereas he was touring, and recommended the general public airing of grievances gave the impression to be aimed toward pushing apart a number one advocate for remodeling the district’s focus.
However Ortega mentioned any hypothesis that inserting Hagekhalil on depart would possibly derail the MWD’s present coverage agenda is unfounded.
“The board is fully organized in support of that agenda,” Ortega mentioned. “So I don’t feel any nervousness or doubt about our continued policy direction.”
“It’s a mistake to think that the fate of our policy agenda rests on one person,” he added. “Nothing is changing in terms of the board’s organization or the items that we’re considering in future months, or the composition of the committees. All of that is intact. And so nothing changes.”
Nonetheless, some environmental advocates have mentioned they’re involved a few potential hyperlink between the surfacing of allegations towards Hagekhalil and efforts by some inside the company to push for the proposed Delta Conveyance Mission, a 45-mile tunnel that will create a second route to attract water from the Sacramento River into the aqueducts of the State Water Mission. They identified that Kasaine at the moment serves as treasurer of the Delta Conveyance Design and Building Authority, the entity that was created to finance the tunnel mission.
“I think it is a calculated ambush that is designed to get the tunnel approved, over the objections of other members of the Metropolitan board,” mentioned Patricia Schifferle, director of Pacific Advocates, an environmental consulting agency.
Throughout an MWD committee assembly on Monday, supporters and opponents of the proposed tunnel debated the prices and advantages of the mission.
Karla Nemeth, director of the State Division of Water Assets, informed board members that the mission is important to bettering the reliability of water provides within the face of local weather change, sea-level rise and a significant earthquake.
Different supporters made related arguments, whereas opponents argued that constructing the tunnel would hurt the delta’s deteriorating ecosystem and could be costlier than different water-supply alternate options.
The prices could be paid for by city and agricultural water districts that resolve to take part. The state just lately launched a cost-benefit evaluation that’s supposed to offer data for native water businesses to think about.
The MWD would obtain a big share of the water, and the board’s eventual resolution on whether or not to take part is predicted to be pivotal in figuring out whether or not the state’s plan goes ahead.
The MWD board in 2020 agreed to contribute $160.8 million towards planning and pre-construction prices. District officers say the board may think about whether or not to offer extra funding for planning and pre-construction prices on the finish of this 12 months, and it’ll possible be a number of years earlier than there’s a resolution on long-term monetary participation.
When the state’s cost-benefit evaluation was launched final month, Hagekhalil mentioned: “The questions are, how can this project be implemented, what kind of assurances can we have in the resilience it provides to the Delta and our water supply future, and at what price?”
Leaders of a number of environmental teams mentioned they have been disillusioned to see Hagekhalil positioned on administrative depart earlier than the accusations towards him have been investigated.
“It is critically important and appropriate for MWD to take these allegations seriously and we applaud the agency’s decision to investigate the claims made, so that the board can have an accurate understanding of what has been happening among the organization’s senior leadership,” mentioned Bruce Reznik, government director of the group LA Waterkeeper. “That said, the public needs more information to ensure the complete independence of this review.”
He mentioned any motion towards Hagekhalil ought to have come after an impartial investigation.
Reznik known as Hagekhalil a “visionary, inclusive and transparent leader” who helps the company reform its strategy to adapt to the results of local weather change.
“He has been vocal about his vision and plans to transform the agency,” Reznik mentioned. “That focus must continue at MWD.”
