ES people – West Basin’s Scott Houston hopes to build on the water district’s past successes and prevent a repeat of past failures

West Basin's Scott Houston. Photo

West Basin’s Scott Houston. Photo

In 1995, West Basin Water District board embraced cutting edge technology to build a $600  million water recycling plant in El Segundo on South Hughes Way, just east of Pacific Coast Highway. The goal was to lessen the district’s dependency on water from the California Aqueduct, which follows Interstate 5 from Northern California to Los Angeles, and the Colorado River Aqueduct, which extends to San Diego. The recycling plant promised the added benefit of diverting from the Hyperion sewage treatment plant 40 million gallons a day of wastewater that would otherwise be discharged into the Santa Monica Bay.

The controversial project, which imposed a $9 million annual assessment on the water district’s 345,000 ratepayers, was spearheaded by District 4 West Basin board member Edward Little, after whom the water recycling plant was subsequently named.

Little retired in 2014, after 29 years on the West Basin board.

His successor for the Division 4 seat, El Segundo resident Scott Houston, sees similarities between the issues Little faced when he fought for the recycling plant and the issues facing the West Basin board today as it contemplates building a $480 million, cutting edge, desalination plant. The plant would be located on the bluff above the beach in El Segundo, where the  El Segundo Generating Station (ESGS) is located.

West Basin Division 4 runs from El Segundo north to Malibu and inland to Culver City and West Hollywood. Houston was re-elected to the seat this month by a wide margin, over fellow El Segundo resident Joseph Lococo.

Houston campaigned on a platform that called for a reliable and affordable water supply.

During an interview following the election he said he is prohibited by law from taking a position on the desalination plant until the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) is presented to the board next year. But his interest in desalination is evident from his writings and his visits to the Carlsbad desalination plant.

In a June 2017 article for the Woodrow Wilson Center NewSecurity blog, Houston argues for “a more balanced approach to water supply solutions that take into account regional natural assets, such as groundwater basins and seawater desalination.”

The article notes that two thirds of California’s rainfall occurs in the north, while two thirds of the population lives in the south. The aqueducts, pumping stations and reservoirs that move Northern California water to Southern California are vulnerable to earthquakes, fire and drought, he writes. That vulnerability was evident during the breaching of the Oroville Dam last summer, requiring the evacuation of 180,000 people. Ironically, the breach was caused by heavy rains.

More tragic evidence of the water system’s fragility was the loss of water pressure during the recent Woolsey fire. Television coverage showed firefighters with empty hoses standing by helplessly as homes along the ocean in Point Dume burned.

Houston said he has toured the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant on several occasions. The plant was commissioned in 2015 and produces nearly 50 million gallons daily for San Diego County, enough for 400,000 residents.

“By all accounts, it’s working as designed. It’s given San Diego a new water supply,” he said.

But even if desalination makes sense for San Diego, it doesn’t mean it makes sense for Los Angeles, he added.

“San Diego’s more vulnerable to a water shortage because its only source of imported water is the Colorado River Aqueduct,” he said.

Lemonade out of lemons

Houston cited the Edward C. Little Recycling Facility as evidence of the benefits of being ahead of the curve.

When Governor Jerry Brown ordered a 25 percent reduction in potable urban water use in 2015, due to the drought, El Segundo’s Chevron Refinery and El Segundo’s parks were unaffected  because their water comes from the 35 million gallons a day the West Basin recycling plant produces. The hundreds of other businesses, schools, parks and golf courses who also receive recycled water through the district’s 110-mile network of purple pipe were similarly unaffected by the cutbacks.

“The 200 billion gallons of recycled water our plant has produced over the past two decades is 200 billion gallons of fresh water that did not have to be imported and 200 billion gallons of sewage water that wasn’t discharged into the ocean,” Houston noted.

The district hopes to double its production of recycled water upon completion of a five-year, $150 million improvement project that is currently underway.

Recycled water presently accounts for 10 percent of the district’s water usage.

The proposed desalination plant would also produce about 10 percent of the area’s water needs. The projected cost is $1,700 per acre foot. Imported water cost roughly $1,000 per acre foot.

Opponents of the plant, including the cities of Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach and Redondo Mayor Bill Brand, fear the brine discharged into the ocean from the desalination process will harm marine life. They also argue that the resources expended on a desalination plant would be better applied to conservation efforts.

Houston said he would balance those concerns with desalination’s promise of a drought proof, disaster proof water supply.

Camera shy

Another contentious issue facing West Basin, Houston said, is financial and policy transparency.

“I’m looking at the possibility of cameras at the board’s public meetings for viewing online. I proposed it during my last term but failed to get support from the rest of the board,” he said.

Houston said he will also propose making the district’s website current. The most recent board meeting minutes posted to the website in November are seven months old.

Lack of transparency is commonly blamed for the corruption that has plagued water districts, statewide. In 2014, West Basin District Division 1 board member Ronald Smith was arrested on five corruption charges related to misuse of public funds and having a financial interest in a West Basin contract. Division 1 includes the Palos Verdes Peninsula and Carson.

In 2004, board member Keith McDonald was convicted on 10 felony counts, among them taking $30,000 in kickbacks from a West Basin pipeline contractor.That same year West Basin director Tyrone Smith pled guilty to accepting $25,000 in bribes.

In March, the Daily Breeze reported that Patrick Sheilds, West Basin’s newly hired general manager, settled a sexual harassment suit for $250,000 in 2016 with an employee at Irvine Ranch, where he had been manager of operations. Board members claimed to have been unaware of the settlement prior to offering Sheilds the $270,000 a year position.

Sheilds was hired with Houston’s support, on a 3-2 vote.

The Breeze also reported that immediately prior to his hiring, Sheilds consulted with Suez, the water service company that has a no-bid, $15.7 million annual contract to operate West Basin’s recycling plant. As a result of his work with Suez, the board has ordered Sheilds to recuse himself from issues related to Suez’s contract, which is up for renewal. Board members told the Breeze they had also been unaware of Sheilds’ recent relationship with Suez. But the board was aware of the fact that several years back, Sheilds worked for Suez at the district’s recycling plant. That prior relationship evidently led to Sheilds being offered a courtesy interview for the general manager position even though, according to the Breeze, he was not on the employment search firm’s list of finalists.

West Basin Board members receive $250 per meeting for up to 10 meetings per month, a $450 per month car allowance and a $350 per month communications (phone) allowance.

Board members also receive lifetime health insurance for themselves, spouses and dependents and 90 percent reimbursement “for up to 12 units of coursework directly related to District business or operations,” according to the West Basin website. District directors have utilized the tuition allowance for classes ranging from speech and flying classes to law school.

In 2016, according to the latest year West Basin earnings are available on TransparentCalifornia.com, Houston received $68,062 in pay and benefits.

Board member Carol Quan (the Beach Cities, Lomita and Torrance) received $61,196. Harold Williams (Carson, Palos Verdes) received $57,645. Donald Dear (Gardena, Hawthorne, Lawndale) received $85,957 and Gloria Gray (Inglewood) received $105,243.

Infrastructure wonk

Houston’s election to the West Basin Water District board followed a decade of involvement in El Segundo civic affairs.

He moved to Torrance in 1993 and graduated from West Torrance High, after having lived in half a dozen different states. His father was in construction and moved to the South Bay to work at the Chevron El Segundo refinery. Houston received a degree in business administration from Michigan Technological University, a school he chose because he liked Michigan, where he had previously lived. He subsequently worked in printing and public relations.

His civic involvement began soon after he moved to El Segundo in 2000.

He served on the city’s Capital Improvement Advisory Committee from 2008 to 2012.

“That’s where my interest in infrastructure, which would lead me to West Basin, came from,” he said. He also served on the Tree Musketeers board and volunteered for the Run for Education and the El Segundo Library. In 2012 and again in 2014, he ran unsuccessfully for city council.

Houston said he has no aspirations for higher office. Water district issues are sufficiently challenging.

Among those challenges, he said, is convincing the public to accept Direct Potable Reuse water (DPR), popularly known as “toilet to tap” water. He said the district’s recycling plant already

produces recycled water for “indirect Potable Reuse.” That water is sold to the Water Replenishment District, which the WRD injects through hundreds of wells into the water table to prevent seawater intrusion.

Currently, DPR water is illegal to sell for direct consumption in California.

“There are health concerns and infrastructure concerns. But DPR is being tested in Texas and being studied by the State Legislature. It’s just a matter of time before recycled water from the Edward D. Little Recycling Plant is available to Waste Basin ratepayers,” Houston said.

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