A New Head for MWD

By Kris Polly 

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which provides water to 19 million people across 6 counties, has a new general manager and CEO, Adel Hagekhalil. We are pleased to have the opportunity to introduce him to our readership in this issue of Municipal Water Leader. In this month’s cover story, Mr. Hagekhalil tells us about Metropolitan’s efforts to respond to drought, increase local water supplies, build infrastructure, and introduce the One Water philosophy of integrated water management. 

We also feature a conversation with another top Southern California executive, Mark Pestrella, the director of Los Angeles County Public Works, on his agency’s Safe, Clean Water Program, which aims to optimize local storm water for water supply and to improve the quality of L.A. County’s surface water. 

Rowland Water District, based in Rowland Heights in Los Angeles County, is doing its part to improve water use efficiency with its advanced metering infrastructure program. We speak with Allen Davidson, the district’s field operations supervisor, about the new initiative. 

Moleaer has created a novel and highly effective aeration system that injects water with billions of tiny air bubbles, thousands of times smaller than a grain of salt. We speak with Moleaer CEO Nick Dyner about the attractions of the company’s technology for wastewater treatment and other municipal applications. 

Masuen Consulting, a Washington State–based outdoor water management, system design, and consulting firm, is able to reduce the water use of many of its clients by up to 50 percent, simply through better management practices. In our interview, Masuen President Mitchel Andrew Walker explains how. 

We applaud leaders like Adel Hagekhalil, who are aggressively pursuing water supply solutions in Southern California and throughout the country. I hope the ambitious projects and new technology highlighted in this issue inspire you in your own work. 

Kris Polly is the editor-in-chief of Municipal Water Leader magazine and the president and CEO of Water Strategies LLC, a government relations firm he began in February 2009 for the purpose of representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural entities in their dealings with Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies. He can be contacted at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.