Katz Bill on Aqueducts

Assemblyman Richard Katz introduced and pursued with unusual vigor a bill while the two public agencies in his hometown most affected by the bill opposed it.

The legislation mandates that any public agency owning an aqueduct must allow any private party to use available space in it for the transfer of water from one location to another.

Supporters of the bill said it would make it easier to market water from a willing seller to a willing buyer. Not so. Assemblyman Katz refused to recognize that such transfers are happening now, without the need for legislation. His bill not only adds a layer of bureaucracy but jeopardizes the operations of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Both agencies opposed the bill because it gives away something the taxpayers in Katz’s area, and all of Southern California, have paid for even while the bill provides for some disputable payment for that use. The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to oppose AB 2746.

Assemblyman Katz ignored advice from a Los Angeles city councilman as well as both the staffs and people’s representatives at the two water agencies. He refused to modify his bill to protect the public’s interest. I understand that the assemblyman and the representatives of the two water agencies do not see eye to eye. But why did he so aggressively fight for a bill that potentially is detrimental to those agencies and, in turn, his constituents?

As vice chairman of Metropolitan’s board of directors and a constituent of Assemblyman Katz, I resent the fact that his personal feelings interfered with good lawmaking. Metropolitan and DWP are public agencies with no profit-motive ax to grind. Their interest is in securing and maintaining an adequate water supply and a reliable delivery system. What Mr. Katz’s motives are I do not know.

EDWARD L. KUSSMAN

Los Angeles

Kussman is vice chairman of the board of directors of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.