In the three years that Adel Hagekhalil has led California's largest urban water provider, the CEO has tried to focus on adapting to climate change, in part by reducing reliance on water supplies from distant sources and investing in water supplies local.
Your efforts to help change priorities in the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which has traditionally focused largely on delivering imported water to the region, have won praise among environmental advocates who hope to reduce reliance on supplies from the Colorado River and northern Of California.
However, now that Hagekhalil is under investigation for harassment allegations and has been placed on leave According to the MWD board, some of his supporters say they are concerned that his marginalization could interfere with the policies he has helped advance.
“I hope this doesn't mean we undo the progress we've made since Adel arrived,” said Conner Everts, executive director of the Southern California Watershed Alliance, who has supported Hagekhalil's policies.
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The allegations against Hagekhalil emerged on Thursday while he was traveling to Singapore for a water conference.
Chief Financial Officer Katano Kasaine made the allegations in a confidential letter to the board, which was leaked to the media. He said Hagekhalil harassed, degraded and marginalized her and created a hostile work environment.
Hagekhalil denied the allegations, saying he had always treated staff with respect and professionalism, and that the allegations amounted to “disagreements over management decisions.”
The MWD board voted to place Hagekhalil on administrative leave for 90 days while Kasaine's complaint and other allegations are investigated. In his place, the board temporarily appointed deputy director general Deven Upadhyay, who has been with the agency for 29 years, as acting director general.
Everts has been advocating for more than three decades for Southern California to reduce reliance on imported water supplies by increasing local supplies. He said he is pleased to see Hagekhalil and MWD moving forward with plans for the country's recovery. largest wastewater recycling facility in Carson and working to develop a climate change adaptation plan.
Everts said he hopes that whatever results emerge from the investigations, the agency does not return to an outdated approach to imported water that he believes some MWD “old guard” leaders still favor.
Everts, like many others who spoke at Thursday's board meeting, said the allegations demand a fair and impartial investigation.
“Hopefully, Adel will come back and continue to lead in this direction. And if not, whoever steps in will,” Everts said. “Is the agency's cultural change still advancing? That is my question”.
MWD is the nation's largest wholesale supplier of drinking water, serving cities and agencies serving 19 million people throughout Southern California.
MWD board president Adán Ortega Jr. said that while the board made “difficult decisions” regarding the allegations against Hagekhalil, “we remain committed to the policies and direction of this organization.”
Ortega said he does not expect any changes in the “current political course” of the district.
“Our current task is to address climate change,” Ortega said in an interview with The Times. “Anyone who challenges this is up against a fairly entrenched policy framework for tackling climate change.”
Ortega participated in the selection of Hagekhalil, who previously He worked for the city of Los Angeles. and who was hired after a bitter fight among board members in 2021. Ortega said his priorities as board president have been the same priorities Hagkhalil has been pursuing.
Regarding the accusations against Hagekhalil, Ortega said he was upset that someone leaked the confidential letter.
“I think whoever leaked it was trying to fit the board. But we are not going to allow them and I don't think it has worked,” Ortega said.
He said all initiatives Hagekhalil was working on will continue under Upadhyay while the matters are investigated.
“The board drives the agenda,” he said. “I think the board has been united on things that Adel and I have shared.”
Hagekhalil has led the agency at a time of important initiatives, including negotiations aimed at address water shortages in the Colorado Riverplans to build the water recycling plant in Carson and the MWD board's consideration of Governor Gavin Newsom's plan to build a 20 billion dollar water tunnel in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
Some of Hagekhalil's supporters questioned why the matter was brought to the board while he was away, and suggested that the public airing of the complaints appeared aimed at sidelining a prominent advocate for transforming the district's approach. .
But Ortega said any speculation that placing Hagekhalil on leave could derail the MWD's current political agenda is unfounded.
“The board is totally organized in support of that agenda,” Ortega said. “So I don't feel any nervousness or doubt about our continued political direction.”
“It is a mistake to think that the fate of our political agenda depends on a single person,” he added. “Nothing changes in terms of the organization of the board or the issues we are considering in the coming months, or the composition of the committees. All of that is intact. And so nothing changes.”
Still, some environmental advocates have said they are concerned about a possible link between the emergence of allegations against Hagekhalil and efforts by some within the agency to push the proposal. delta transportation project, a 45-mile tunnel that would create a second route to draw water from the Sacramento River to the State Water Project's aqueducts. They noted that Kasaine currently serves as treasurer of the Delta Conveyance Design and Construction Authority, an entity that was created to finance the tunnel project.
“I think it's a calculated ambush designed to get the tunnel approved, over the objections of other Metro board members,” said Patricia Schifferle, principal at Pacific Advocates, an environmental consulting firm.
During an MWD committee meeting Monday, supporters and opponents of the proposed tunnel debated the costs and benefits of the project.
Karla Nemeth, director of the state Department of Water Resources, told board members that the project is essential to improving water supply reliability in the face of climate change, sea level rise and a major earthquake.
Other supporters made similar arguments, while opponents argued that construction of the tunnel would harm the delta's deteriorating ecosystem and would be more expensive than other water supply alternatives.
The costs would be paid by urban and agricultural water districts that decide to participate. The state recently published a cost-benefit analysis which is intended to provide information for local water agencies to consider.
MWD would receive a large share of the water, and the board's eventual decision on whether to participate is expected to be critical in determining whether the state's plan moves forward.
In 2020, the MWD board agreed to contribute $160.8 million toward planning and preconstruction costs. District officials say the board could consider providing additional funding for planning and preconstruction costs later this year, and it will likely be several years before a decision is made on long-term financial participation.
When the state's cost-benefit analysis was released last month, Hagekhalil said: “The questions are: How can this project be implemented? What kind of assurances can we have in terms of the resiliency it provides to the Delta and our future water supply? what price?”
Leaders of several environmental groups said they were disappointed to see Hagekhalil placed on administrative leave before the allegations against him were investigated.
“It is vitally important and appropriate that the MWD take these allegations seriously and we applaud the agency's decision to investigate the allegations made, so that the board can have an accurate understanding of what has been happening among the organization's senior leadership. “said Bruce Reznik. , executive director of the LA Waterkeeper group. “That said, the public needs more information to ensure the complete independence of this review.”
He said any action against Hagekhalil should have come after an independent investigation.
Reznik called Hagekhalil a “visionary, inclusive and transparent leader” who is helping the agency reshape its approach to adapting to the effects of climate change.
“He has expressed his vision and his plans to transform the agency,” Reznik said. “That approach must continue at MWD.”
