Second in a series
Re “Murray Not Walking on Water. He Is Running on It”
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With his campaign for a vacant seat on the gray, remote, lightly known West Basin Water Board down to the last 25 days, Stephen Murray of Culver City frequently finds himself answering two questions:
“What is the Water Board? What does it do?”
Says he: “The Water Board is like the board of directors for a company, and the company is West Basin's Municipal Water District.
“The Water Board oversees the company and points it in the direction it needs to go,” said Mr. Murray. “The company’s business is serving water to the people, and it has to serve the water, no matter what.”
As an environmentalist, would you say an environmentalist is the most suitable candidate for the West Basin Water Board?
“This is a non-partisan position, and I think a Board member should have an attachment to the environment to understand where the Board should be going in the long term because there are environmental effects.
“This last century has been the wettest one on record,” Mr. Murray said. “The fact we are entering into times of more limited water scarcity, part of the cyclical nature of California weather, is something Water Board candidates should be aware of. Environmentalists understand this very well. If the candidate is a business person, he will see the scarcity and plan for it.”
Mr. Murray says that the late Ed Little, who held this seat for 26 years, “was a climate-denier. And he built the recycling facility, which is a great asset for the District.
“So you don’t have to be an environmentalist per se, but just be responsive to the water needs of the population.”
