Outsiders Make Waves in Water District Race : Politics: Two incumbents face first opposition as drought sparks interest in board.

Until this year, contested elections in the San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District were rarities--occurring only five times in its 32-year history.

But on the Nov. 3 ballot the two incumbents with expiring terms, C. Robert Keiser and Joseph C. Reichenberger, each face an opponent for the first time. And local water officials say this is solid testimony that the indifference normally surrounding the agency’s elections has ended as regional water boards cope with persistent drought, rising water rates and severe underground pollution.

Challengers John S. Leung and Peter Lynch, both outsiders to the world of local water politics, are criticizing their opponents, one for ineffectiveness in dealing with the San Gabriel Valley’s water problems and the other for conflict of interest.

The incumbents, who both have longstanding professional ties to the water industry, respond that they are doing the job they were elected for.

“The main issue is to maintain a balanced district,” said Keiser. That means, he said, “to keep prices as low as possible.”

Historically, the water district’s main role has been to import water for the cities of Alhambra, Azusa, Monterey Park and Sierra Madre, all of which rely on wells for part of their water supply. To ensure that the underground water supply is not overtaxed, the district decides when to buy water and how much to buy. The district also runs a hydroelectric plant in San Dimas.

Keiser, who is president of the district’s five-member board, was appointed in 1982 to finish an unexpired term in Division 2, which includes the southern half of Alhambra and part of Monterey Park.

Keiser, 69, an Alhambra resident, worked for 40 years as a sales representative for manufacturers of brass fittings used in the water industry.

When appointed to the board, Keiser promised to leave after three four-year terms, and he said he intends to keep that pledge.

Keiser’s opponent, Leung of Alhambra, enters the campaign as an unknown on the local water scene. As part of the filing for his candidacy Leung submitted forms describing himself as a registered civil engineer who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in engineering from UCLA and a master’s in business administration from Cal State L.A. Numerous attempts to contact Leung for an interview were unsuccessful.

In his official candidate’s statement, Leung complained about groundwater contamination in the San Gabriel Valley, saying that “our water board still has no legitimate, comprehensive cleanup plan to remedy this problem. Our incumbent board members have continued to do nothing about toxics. . . .

“The only thing the incumbents do is spend taxpayers’ money on all-expenses-paid trips to water conventions across the United States and Canada.” He said he is “someone who knows how to protect taxpayers’ dollars” and that he “has designed and constructed freeways, highways and water reclamation systems.”

Keiser disputes the charge that nothing is being done to clean up water pollution. Steps are being taken by state and local water officials, working with the water districts and water industry, to clean up the water supply, he said.

In the race for Division 3, representing Monterey Park, Reichenberger faces confict-of-interest charges over his position as vice president of western operations for Pasadena-based Engineering Sciences, a civil engineering firm that does consulting for the water industry.

“I’m not tied to anybody,” said 60-year-old Lynch, who for 18 years served in various planning post in Los Angeles municipal government and is now a planning consultant for builders and property owners. “I don’t need to worry about having a conflict.”

Lynch said he decided to run because “one thing that has been lacking is a real concern for long-range planning” in the district. In the late 1960s, he directed an ambitious planning project called the Los Angeles Metropolitan Goals Program, which was designed to look at how the region would be affected by growth.

Reichenberger, 50, whose wife Pat once served as mayor and councilwoman on the often turbulent Monterey Park council, denies that any conflicts have occurred. “That is not an issue,” he said.

A board member since he was appointed in 1989, Reichenberger represents the district on the Main San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority and last year he took over as chairman of the 11-member board amid infighting over the group’s role in solving the region’s water contamination problems.

“My objective was to hold the agency together,” he said. And he said he believes he has done that.

Reichenberger said he is running for reelection because “I have a lot to contribute. I understand the water business lots better than most other people.”