COLUMN ONE : Challenge to MWD’s Old Ways : The agency provided water to all who asked. But now there are more people and not enough supplies. Meanwhile, activists who are joining board question its policies.

For six decades, the aqueducts and pipelines of the Metropolitan Water District supplied the water necessary for the development of Southern California’s vast suburbs.

Guided by a philosophy that water should be delivered upon demand, the MWD evolved from a small confederation of Los Angeles-area cities into the world’s largest water agency, serving 225 communities and 17 million residents from Ventura County to Mexico and inland to Riverside.

Despite its effect on the region’s lifestyle and economy, the Met--as it is known--operated in relative obscurity and near total autonomy.

Its board of directors--dominated by real estate interests--voted time and again to deliver water to new housing tracts, factories and entire cities.

To provide the water, the MWD built colossal waterworks linked to the Sacramento and Colorado rivers. To pay for the construction, the board was empowered under a unique state charter to set water rates and raise millions of dollars in taxes, without a vote of the people.

Now, with the state suffering under a fifth year of drought, the MWD no longer enjoys virtually unlimited water resources and is struggling to meet the demands of its 27 member agencies.

That shortage has placed the MWD under the glare of public scrutiny while it faces challenges to its guiding philosophy and leadership that could reshape water and development policies for decades:

* MWD’s pro-development ethos is being questioned by a growing contingent of young, more liberal directors--increasingly female, of color, removed from the development industry, and concerned about the environment.

These directors are questioning not only the MWD’s ability to provide all the water that Southern California needs, but its obligation to provide that ever-increasing supply.

* New directors are attacking some of the MWD’s most cherished traditions and perks. Directors are publicly questioning lavish travel expenditures, expensive political campaigns and the premise that the staff knows best and board members are supposed to wield a rubber stamp and march in lock step. “Some directors believe . . . we should not wash our dirty linen in public,” said Christine Reed, an MWD director representing Santa Monica. “They are very protective of the Met image, very secretive.”

* Officials fear that they could be facing a perpetual water shortage because of an unprecedented rise in population during the 1980s, coupled with increased competition for water at its sources on the Colorado River and the Sacramento River Delta. On the Colorado, for example, MWD is losing water to Arizona, which has begun taking its full entitlement. And on the Sacramento, water that could have been available to MWD is being withheld to protect the delta’s fishery.

* As the fight for water supplies intensifies, the agency is radically changing its methods of securing new sources. “The MWD started with a mission--an amazing engineering accomplishment,” said a former director, Ellen Stern Harris. “Now its focus is politics, lobbying, public relations, advertising and litigation.”

* The board of directors is increasingly divided, said a recent management audit, “on major, sensitive policy issues--raising contentiousness . . . and instability.” The board, the report added, “is not as strong as it could be . . . not as strong as it should be (and by) too many (measures) the situation is deteriorating.”

Water Shortage Against this backdrop, the MWD is facing its greatest challenge since it was formed in 1927 to build a pipeline across the desert to bring Colorado River water to booming Los Angeles bedroom communities.

Last year, MWD’s supplies were short of projected demand by 250,000 acre-feet of water, enough to serve 500,000 households for a full year. This year the MWD is projected to be short 500,000 acre-feet of water, enough to serve 1 million families, and has called on its member agencies to impose rationing.

Even when the drought ends, MWD has projected that its water supply may fall below demand in six of the next 10 years. “Normal (precipitation) may no longer be adequate . . . wet years may not be enough,” said MWD General Manager Carl Boronkay.

Boronkay said the economic health of the entire region is dependent upon a stable and adequate supply of water. “You can’t afford to fail when it comes to delivering water to Southern California,” he said. “The impact, the consequences, are too enormous.”

Key among the divisive policy questions facing the agency is the need for the Peripheral Canal and other huge water projects that environmentalists fear will disrupt fragile areas of the state, such as the Sacramento River Delta.

The new wing of the board, perhaps as little as 10% to 20% of current members, wants to avoid major construction projects if possible.

The old guard sees few ways around more construction.

“We rather profoundly represent the old Southern California belief of the inevitability of growth and the necessity to support it,” said Brooks T. Morris, an acknowledged traditionalist who represents the Foothill Municipal Water District on the MWD board.

Critics believe there may be other solutions--including growth management and greater use of conservation and reclamation.

But conservation and reclamation programs are far more costly than tapping a river. This year, the MWD raised water rates by 14%, and the staff already is considering a 40% rate increase for next year to cover the cost of these kinds of innovative programs.

Critics say that the MWD, in finding new solutions, must shed some of its traditions and alliances. One of the chief criticisms is that MWD has maintained political ties to Central Valley agricultural interests that compete against urban districts for increasingly scarce water supplies.

“They’ve got to come out of the back room with the water fraternity,” said Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar). “It’s a different ballgame today. The people they serve are not the people they’ve been playing with.”

Image Tarnished Public disclosures about the agency’s policies and spending practices have embarrassed the MWD in recent months:

* The MWD was planning to secretly establish and fund a vast lobbying organization to increase its political power in the state capital. Under criticism that it would be unseemly for a public agency to operate in such a secret manner, the plan was quietly shelved.

* The MWD, The Times reported, has annexed thousands of acres of desert-like territory into its service area and agreed to supply water to tens of thousands of new homes and businesses even as its water supplies have dwindled during the drought. Fearing a public backlash, the board imposed a temporary moratorium on non-emergency annexations for several months this year.

* Board members, it was found, spent more than $255,000 on MWD-paid travel last year and two of the biggest spenders failed to submit a single expense account. One director spent $40,000, running open bar tabs at conventions and billing the MWD for meals that cost as much as $400. After public disclosures, the board approved rules to tighten expense accounting despite objections from some directors who said filing timely expense reports is an unnecessary “burden.”

* A group of eight directors and staff members took a $28,000, six-day trip to the Virgin Islands to view desalination plants. Staff members flew coach, but directors flew first class and stayed in rooms costing $281 a night--twice as expensive as the staff accommodations, records show.

“We took the cheapest rooms for the staff,” said MWD spokesman Lee Gottlieb. “But for the directors, we wanted rooms commensurate with (their position). Rank has its privileges.”

Critics, including some with high “rank” within MWD, see it differently.

“The bottom line is the Met doesn’t have procedures or rules or an ethic about spending the public’s money because no one ever paid any attention,” said director Reed. “Now, with the drought, the spotlight is on.”

How the MWD Evolved It was the threat of water shortages that led to the creation of the MWD.

Booming suburban populations and a persistent drought were outstripping local ground-water supplies in the late 1920s.

“The foothill communities had drilled their wells as deep as they could go,” said Morris, the MWD director and son of Samuel B. Morris, a founder of the MWD. “I was a high school boy hearing this at the dinner table,” said Morris, whose son, John, is also an MWD board member.

Los Angeles, which had built the Los Angeles aqueduct to import water from the Owens Valley, had sufficient water to weather the shortages. Los Angeles offered to share its resources--but only if the smaller cities agreed to be annexed by their larger neighbor.

Pasadena objected, and enlisted 11 other cities to organize the MWD and import their own supply. To ensure adequate water supplies for the future, Los Angeles also joined the confederation.

In 1928, the state Legislature adopted the MWD Act, establishing the agency as a cooperative to serve its member cities and agencies. The MWD was given a mandate to bring water from the Colorado River and granted power to collect property taxes in its service area to pay for the huge project.

In one of the most ambitious engineering projects of its time, the MWD hired more than 35,000 men to lay pipe across 250 miles of desert, chisel 29 tunnels through 92 miles of mountain, construct four dams, five pumping plants and create whole towns to serve its remote facilities. The 14-year effort cost $220 million.

The long aqueduct from the Colorado River to Southern California was patrolled by one man, a former Texas Ranger named Ralph (Pistol Pete) Stringfellow who died in an auto accident after 17 years on the job.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks was getting voters to approve bonds to finance the construction. In an innovative political campaign, MWD put together a motion picture called “Thirst,” which was shown in more than 200 theaters. And on Election Day, each bottle of milk delivered in the area came with a flyer urging a vote for the bonds, which eventually won by a 5-1 margin.

To pay off those bonds, the MWD took in new members and has continued to annex areas. Today, MWD water is distributed through 27 member agencies to hundreds of smaller districts that eventually deliver water to millions of homes and businesses in six counties.

Initially, 100% of the MWD’s expenses were covered by property taxes. In the current budget, taxes total about $80 million, or about 10% of MWD’s revenues. Most of the rest of its income is from water sales.

Currently, most property owners in the district are charged $9.70 annually for each $100,000 of assessed valuation. For the average $220,000 home in Los Angeles, that amounts to about $21.30 a year. But in some areas recently annexed to the district, tax rates are 20 times higher to pay for capital improvements. Property owners in parts of Riverside County are taxed at about $200 per $100,000 of assessed valuation, records show.

In 1952, the board of directors adopted the so-called “Laguna Declaration,” a statement of purpose that codified what had been privately understood since its founding and which has officially driven the agency ever since. The two-paragraph statement simply says, “When additional water resources are required . . . the Metropolitan Water District will be prepared to deliver such supplies.”

By that time, the MWD was again looking for more water. The solution was to construct a second pipeline to the Colorado River and, later in 1960, to join the State Water Project that would bring water from the Sacramento River Delta.

In 1980, the MWD fought unsuccessfully for a state ballot measure creating the so-called Peripheral Canal to channel Northern California water around the Sacramento River Delta and directly to Southern California.

The defeat demonstrated that MWD no longer had the uniform support of the Southern California community or its elected officials. Residents were still interested in economic growth, but they also wanted a reasonable concern for the environment.

Changes on the Board Critics, such as environmentalist and former director Harris, say the MWD board was just an “old boys’ club” for the development industry and had little concern for the environment. Harris was the sole member of the MWD board to oppose the Peripheral Canal.

MWD officials acknowledge that for decades the board was composed primarily of wealthy, white males who were recognized leaders of the business community and closely tied to real estate development--which was dependent on ever-increasing supplies of imported water.

MWD member agencies appoint from one to eight directors, based on the property valuations in their jurisdiction. Los Angeles, with eight directors, has the largest contingent on the board.

In cities, appointments are generally made by the mayor and confirmed by the city councils. In regional water districts, MWD directors are appointed by the district boards, which are generally elected bodies.

The first woman and black were not appointed to the MWD board until 1974, when Los Angeles appointed Catherine Dunlap and Edward Kussman. The first Latino, Soledad Garcia, joined the board in 1976, also as a representative of Los Angeles.

Though the 1970s and 1980s ushered in the greatest changes ever in composition of the board, most directors still are tied to real estate, engineering and law and the board is still overwhelmingly white, male and over 60.

Critics say the board is not just old, but feeble.

For years, the MWD had a nurse on the premises on board meeting days in case any of its elderly directors needed medical assistance. To this day, a security guard stands by with an oxygen supply, officials confirmed.

Director Tim Brick of Pasadena derisively calls some of his aging colleagues “chair warmers. . . . It’s a retiree board. And a retiree board is a passive board.”

Robert Gottlieb, an author and a former board member, wrote that after defeat of the Peripheral Canal in the early 1980s, “The old guard still maintained power, but it had essentially become reactive, dependent on management to set direction for the agency.”

E. Thornton Ibbetson, 68, a real estate developer and currently the longest-serving MWD director, countered: “We are now getting people on the board who are not in touch with water, except in using it.

“We used to get engineers, developers and lawyers . . . now it’s housewives and barbers, mostly political appointees,” said Ibbetson, who joined the board in 1959.

Attorney Marilyn Garcia, vice chairwoman of the board, said, “You have to balance expertise and wisdom with not being out of touch with the community.”

Despite the changes in the board’s makeup, Brick said, “It’s still business as usual. There’s a group of directors who say we will meet any (water) need, regardless of how unreasonable.”

A survey of directors and staff conducted by Price Waterhouse found: “The Laguna Declaration is considered the best statement of missions and goals, even though it is 38 years old.”

Meeting the Challenge Building a pipeline across the desert with little more than mules and human sweat in the 1930s was easy compared to the challenge that lies ahead for the MWD, officials acknowledge.

The route to water is now through the Legislature, ballot box or courtroom, officials agree.

Boronkay acknowledges that drills, spades and dynamite are being replaced with food, bar tabs and plane tickets as the MWD’s tools of the trade. “It’s a hell of a political world and the idea of a low profile is past,” he said. “I don’t think there is a viable alternative to becoming well known to the public, and therefore to policy makers, legislators and elected officials.”

Last year, the Met’s public affairs department spent more than $6 million of the agency’s $780-million annual budget--nearly a 50% increase in just three years. Expenses last year included $1 million on lobbying state agencies, $250,000 on all-expense-paid tours for VIPs at various MWD facilities and more than $20,000 for “hospitality” suites that served free drinks and food at industry conventions, according to MWD records obtained by The Times.

Boronkay personally spent $40,000 traveling last year, taking more than 50 out-of-town trips.

Some critics say that is too much for a public agency and indicates that the MWD is no longer accountable to the taxpayers.

“The Met doesn’t have the fiscal control or constraints that local government has,” said director Brick. “The Met is out there on its own. The budget gets little attention from directors, let alone the public.”

The auditors also expressed concern over the lack of oversight for expenses. The Price Waterhouse report concluded that “the board needs to further improve its budget/spending control process” and “examine policy on director expense accounts.”

Assemblyman Katz said the agency overstepped its bounds when it used $25,000 in taxpayer funds to support the Colorado River Resources Coalition, a water and power industry lobbying group formed “to combat the mass appeal of the narrow-focus, single-issue ‘environmentalists’ who want to limit regional economic growth.”

Boronkay argues that the coalition dues, travel expenses, free food and liquor are “quite appropriate. . . . I think we get a good return for the dollar spent.”

Officials say the future of MWD depends on the agency’s ability to make optimum use of its existing resources--through conservation, reclamation and ground-water cleanup--while reaching out to secure more water to accommodate population growth in its service areas.

“Many of us feel challenged to follow in the footsteps of (MWD founders) to be prepared for the inevitability of growth,” said director Morris.

Brick said there are significant questions to be answered before MWD builds any more dams or pipelines that could damage the environment in Northern California or stimulate development in Southern California.

“How do we reflect the new Southern California?” asked Brick, “How do we reflect environmental concerns, how do we reflect concerns over water quality? We’re moving in the right direction, but we have a long way to go.”

Next: MWD’s man in charge.

About the MWD Facts and figures about the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California: The MWD is the world’s largest water agency, delivering an estimated 900 billion gallons of water a year, roughly half of that used annually by 17 million Southern Californians.

The largest user of the MWD is the San Diego County Water Authority, which uses about 27% of the agency’s supply.

The MWD service area, about 5,200 square miles, is larger than the states of Delaware, Rhode Island or Connecticut. The population is larger than that of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia or Hungary.

Only 8% of the MWD’s water is used in agriculture; 92% is for home and business use.

The agency’s budget for the 1991-1992 fiscal year is $780 million. Anticipated revenues include $459 million from water sales, $77 million from property taxes; $20 million from power sales; $52 million from interest income and miscellaneous sources and $172 million from reserves.

The MWD controls nearly $4 billion in assets and has about $1 billion in cash reserves. The agency has a AAA bond rating from the major credit-rating agencies.

The agency employs 1,900 people at its Los Angeles headquarters, field offices at Lake Havasu, and other facilities including Gene Village, where it operates its own hotel for visiting dignitaries.

The MWD was founded in 1928 by the Legislature and has monopolies to bring water to Southern California from the Colorado and Sacramento rivers.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is one of the most powerful yet obscure government agencies in the state. The 51-member board of directors forms what some critics call the largest hidden level of government in the state. The panel, appointed by the member agencies, has the unique ability to raise millions of dollars in taxes and set water rates--without seeking a vote of the people or even approval of the Public Utilities Commission.

Here are thumbnail sketches of the individuals who are directing this agency:

ANAHEIM

Bob Kazarian, 67, appointed 11/90; petroleum engineer and president NP Energy, an oil and gas company.

BEVERLY HILLS

Ina S. Roth, 52, appointed 2/84; high school dean, Los Angeles Unified School District.

BURBANK

Larry L. Stamper, 66, appointed 8/91; pastor of the Burbank First United Methodist Church, former mayor of Burbank.

COMPTON

Regina Turney Murph, 48, appointed 3/80; sociologist, general manager of Compton Municipal Water District.

FULLERTON

James H. Blake, 61, appointed 8/88; owner of Blake Investment Co., a financial consulting firm.

GLENDALE

James M. Rez, 66, appointed 8/88; retired Glendale city manager.

LONG BEACH

Ida Frances Lowry, appointed 3/85; civic volunteer, former president of Long Beach Water Department board of directors.

LOS ANGELES

Robert J. Abernethy, 51, appointed 4/89; electrical engineer and president of American Standard Development Co.

Alf W. Brandt, 30, appointed 4/91; attorney with Los Angeles firm of Tuttle & Taylor is the youngest member of the board.

Edward L. Kussman, 81, appointed 10/74; retired builder. First black member of MWD board.

Marilyn Garcia, 40, appointed 10/84; attorney. Serves as vice chairwoman of board.

Vernon R. Watkins, 53, appointed 2/91; area director for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Helen Romero Shaw, 49, appointed 9/84; community involvement manager for Southern California Gas Co.

S. Dell Scott, 70, appointed 2/75; attorney with Los Angeles firm of Gillin, Scott, Alperstein, Glantz & Simon.

Michael Gage, 46, appointed 6/91; television commentator, president of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power commissioners, former real estate developer, former chief of staff to Mayor Tom Bradley and onetime member of the state Assembly.

PASADENA

Timothy F. Brick, 45, appointed 6/85; writer and organizational consultant.

SAN FERNANDO

Doude Wysbeek Jr., 52, appointed 12/86; owner of H.C. Stroud Electric Motors Sales and Service. Former mayor of San Fernando.

SAN MARINO

John T. Morris, 47, appointed 3/90; civil engineer, director of engineering and planning for Irvine Ranch Water District.

SANTA ANA

Daniel H. Young, 40, appointed 8/91 real estate developer, president of TMC Development, former mayor of Santa Ana.

SANTA MONICA

Christine Emerson Reed, 47, appointed 3/88; former mayor of Santa Monica, former chairwoman of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission.

TORRANCE

Marvin Brewer, 79, appointed 3/83; consultant and retired chairman of Dominguez Water Corp.

CALLEGUAS MWD

Patrick H. Miller, 60, appointed 8/90; retired teacher and guidance counselor.

Carl E. Ward, 79, appointed 9/69; former mayor of Oxnard.

CENTRAL BASIN MWD

Douglas W. Ferguson, 76, appointed 6/77; chairman of Quaker City S & L, where he has been employed since 1937.

E. Thornton Ibbetson, 68, appointed 12/59; engineer, realtor and real estate developer. President of Union Development Co. Longest-serving board member.

Leonis C. Malburg, 62, appointed 7/86; owner of Leonis C. Malburg Enterprises, a real estate and securities investment firm. Mayor of Vernon.

CHINO BASIN MWD

Anne W. Donnihue, 67, appointed 9/88; retired Kaiser Steel Corp. executive.

Bill Hill, 63, appointed 8/90; mortician and former San Bernardino County coroner. Currently administrative assistant to state Sen. Ruben S. Ayala (D-Chino).

COASTAL MWD

Wayne T. McMurray, 67, appointed 2/91; retired construction engineer, trustee of the Construction Laborers Health and Welfare Trust.

John Killefer, 66, appointed 1/82; operator of Food Stuffs International, a dried fruit company. Retired from Calvo Growers of California in 1978.

EASTERN MWD

Doyle F. Boen, 77, appointed 3/82; civil engineer and retired water company executive. Began water career in 1934 on MWD survey and construction team.

FOOTHILL MWD

Brooks T. Morris, 78, appointed 9/90; aerospace engineer, retired from Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. He and son John are the first father and son team to serve simultaneously on MWD board. His father, Samuel S. Morris, was an MWD founder.

LAS VIRGINES MWD

A. MacNeil Stelle, appointed 3/75; had served 1965 to ‘67; mechanical and nuclear engineer. Retired from Rockwell International Corp. in 1981.

MUNICIPAL WATER DISTRICT OF ORANGE COUNTY

William F. Davenport, 69, appointed 1/87; metallurgical engineer and retired aerospace executive.

John V. Foley, 61, appointed 8/89; engineer and mathematician, graduate of West Point and retired U.S. Army colonel. General manager of Moulton Niguel Water District.

M. Roy Knauft Jr., 73, appointed 9/77; former owner of Hollywood Wholesale Paper Co. and now president of Yorba Linda Water District.

Carl Kymla, 57, appointed 10/73; real estate consultant, former general manager of Moulton Niguel Water District, former Newport Beach councilman.

Kenneth H. Witt, 68, appointed 10/81; retired as area manager for Southern California Edison Co. in 1984.

SAN DIEGO COUNTY WATER AUTHORITY

Harry Griffen, 84, appointed 2/63; retired from banking, farming and real estate businesses; former president of Helix Water District in San Diego.

Francesca Mecia Krauel, 47, appointed 11/83; attorney with firm of Krauel & Krauel, specializing in municipal law.

Michael D. Madigan, 48, appointed 8/82; senior vice president Pardee Construction Co., former assistant to then San Diego Mayor Pete Wilson.

Dale Mason, 42, appointed 1/87; owner of Mason Insurance Co.

John Starkey, 63, appointed 1/81; real estate developer, chairman of Starboard Development Co. and president of Southern Mortgage Co.

Herbert H. Stickney, 69, appointed 11/89; attorney, retired as chief financial officer of Kal Kan Foods in 1978. Now a citrus grower.

THREE VALLEYS MWD

Richard Hansen, 37, appointed 6/86; civil engineer and general manager/chief engineer for Three Valleys MWD.

UPPER SAN GABRIEL VALLEY MWD

Burton E. Jones, 72, appointed 1/79; retired insurance executive, former mayor of South Pasadena.

John E. Maulding, 68, appointed 1/90; civil engineer, senior vice president of Willdan Associates, an engineering and planning company.

WEST BASIN MWD

Charles D. Barker, 76, appointed 9/63; petroleum engineer, retired from Chevron Oil Co., now consultant to oil companies.

Robert Goldsworthy, 56, appointed 4/91; chemical engineer and strategic planning analyst with Chevron U.S.A.

Charles L. Stuart, 77, appointed 7/89; retired as vice president of Southern California Water Co. in 1984 after 34 years.

WESTERN MWD OF RIVERSIDE COUNTY

Lois B. Krieger, 74, appointed 8/76; civic volunteer. Krieger is chairman of MWD board.

About the MWD Board Business Background: The board of directors has traditionally been dominated by real estate interests. According to MWD records,half of the the directors are in real estate, law and engineering. There are 13 engineers, nine real estate developers, builders or consultants, and five attorneys. Ethnic Makeup: Of the 51 directors, 40 are Anglos, three are black and two are Latino. Nine of the directors are women. Age and Tenure:.the average director is 62 years old and has served on the board for nearly 10 years.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California The Metropolitan Water District’s 27 member agencies supply more than half the water consumed by 17 million people in the district’s huge six-county service area. The MWD holds monopolies to bring water from the Colorado and Sacramento rivers and controls billions of dollars in assets.