Topics / ENVIRONMENT : 2 Backers of Reclaimed Water Proposal Regain Board Seats

In what many saw as a referendum on the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District board’s reclaimed water project, voters in the Mid-Valley reelected board members Tony Fellow and Marvin J. Cichy, backers of the controversial plan.

Cichy and Fellow won second four-year terms on a campaign emphasizing the district’s $25-million proposal to replenish the San Gabriel Basin’s ground-water supply with treated sewage water as a safe way to save money and water, and one that is already in use in many regions in the state.

Their victory was a setback for Miller Brewery Co., which is fighting the district in court to keep treated sewage water out of the ground water that supplies its Irwindale plant. Miller last week gave $11,000 to Consumers for Clean Water, which provided more than $15,000 each to the campaign chests of challengers Linn E. Magoffin and John T. Walker, who oppose the plan.