Besieged MWD Turns to Its Ex-Counsel

The mammoth Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, under fire from Sacramento and Washington to change its ways, chose a former MWD lawyer and legislative lobbyist Monday as its new general manager.

The governing board for the MWD, the nation’s largest water wholesaler, selected trash hauling executive Ronald R. Gastelum, 52, to head an agency that is at the vortex of change in the water industry. He succeeds John R. Wodraska, who resigned in October to take a job with an international water firm.

Gastelum was deputy general counsel at the MWD from 1975 to 1979 and served on the governing board for 10 months in 1998 as a representative of the city of Los Angeles. He is chief executive of BKK Corp., a regional waste management firm.

He assumes leadership at the MWD, which supplies 60% of the water for 16 million people in six counties, at a point when the agency has angered key legislators in Sacramento and also Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt over the issue of water allocations from the Colorado River.

At a contentious hearing in Sacramento two weeks ago, key legislators on water committees accused the MWD of trying to scuttle a historic water deal between the San Diego County Water Authority and the Imperial Irrigation District. Babbitt became annoyed at the MWD when the board of directors criticized him in January for allegedly favoring Imperial Valley farmers.

Gastelum said he is unsure whether he can heal the breach between the MWD and state and federal officials but added: “I’m certainly dedicated to trying. Maybe a fresh and open approach can help.”

Although he will not take over until April 15, Gastelum said he plans to attend an April 8 negotiating session between MWD officials, an Interior Department mediator and officials of the Coachella Valley Water District and Imperial Irrigation District. At issue are volatile questions about Colorado River allocations and standards to measure efficient use of water by farmers.

An old saw holds that the water business is a three-legged stool: politics, litigation and engineering. In choosing Gastelum, the MWD board has selected someone with extensive experience in two of those fields. Gastelum said he plans to hire an assistant general manager with an engineering background.

Gastelum will also be called upon to soothe the sometimes fractious relationships among 51 board members who represent 27 local water agencies. Wodraska’s tenure was marked by a kind of civil war on the board between the majority and members from the San Diego County Water Authority, who wanted to break away from dependence on the MWD by signing their own water deal with Imperial.

Tom Levy, general manager of the Coachella Valley Water District, a formidable figure in Southern California water skirmishes, said Gastelum may prove to be “just the sort of person MWD needs at this time.’

“He understands water issues some, he understands the political process, and he can also deal with problems and relationships on the MWD board,” Levy said.

Gastelum, a resident of Rolling Hills Estates, has a law degree from UCLA and a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from Whittier College, where he serves on the Board of Trustees.

He becomes the 11th general manager, and first Latino, to head the MWD in its 71-year history. His salary is subject to negotiation; Wodraska was paid $196,000 a year.