Second in a series. 

Re: “Explaining West Basin’s Role in Drought” 

Scott Houston, five-month member of the West Basin Water Board, only needed a moment to ponder the question of how California’s fourth-year drought has complicated his chores as a freshman director.

“Talk about a critical time to come to the Water Board,” he said. “There are so many moving parts right now – with  the water industry, with meeting the needs of our district, and all the other districts of the state.

“If I had come onto the board five years ago, there would have been more of a status quo situation. You might have been looking at visions for the future, at expansion.

“There probably would not have been nearly as much pressure” as the widening drought has created. You would have had time to think more about your vision for the agency.”

The heat is on all five West Basin directors to apportion the state’s most scarce entity while following explicit and general orders from Gov. Brown’s office.

Even as pressure tightens, especially on a newcomer, Mr. Houston understands the challenge as an opportunity rather than stifling heat. “There are opportunities for West Basin to show where we have come from, and relative to other agencies, we still have an opportunity to be a leader in the water realm, with projects like our water recycling program and with how we look at other options to develop our local water resources,” he said.

(To be continued)