WOODLAND HILLS : Water Called Key to Region’s Economy

Water is still the key to the region’s economy, no less now than in the days when the Colorado aqueduct first transformed the arid Los Angeles basin, said John R. Wodraska, the new general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

Wodraska, who joined the agency in July, told a small gathering of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. on Monday that with his new job comes an awesome responsibility.

“I am a bit nervous,” said Wodraska, former head of South Florida Water Management District. The agency is facing difficult times, he said, with conservation and reclamation projects cutting into the amount of water the district sells each year. The agency has responded with higher rates, and now Wodraska is overseeing efforts to eliminate waste, re-evaluate rate structures and possibly raise some rates again.

So far, the water district has been able to keep a top-notch credit rating despite slumping sales. Its ability to maintain that rating will affect how easily the agency can finance about $6 billion in capital improvement projects planned for the next 10 years, he said.

“These are the types of decisions that will determine the future economic landscape of Southern California and, I daresay, of California and the West,” he said.