FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 27, 2024
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Alexandra Nagy, alexandra@sunstonestrategies.org
Leela Yadav, leela@sunstonestrategies.org
Los Angeles, Calif. – Metropolitan Water District (MWD) General Manager Adel Hagekhalil has been denied due process after more than two months of administrative leave. In a special meeting held today by MWD, GM Hagekhalil shared during public comment that he has yet to be contacted as part of the ongoing investigation into alleged employee harassment claims and has been denied access to records to aid in his defense.
The State Water Project is anticipating a potential 23% reduction in water availability in the next 20 years due to climate change according to a recent LA Times report. Yet instead of moving forward with solutions for Southern California water users, some MWD Board Members and senior management are weaponizing harassment claims, directed at a number of their best employees and managers.
Since GM Hagekhalil has been placed on leave, productive communications from MWD with Delta communities and Tribes have been less frequent – this is not the fault of MWD’s excellent regional managers, but rather the result of MWD regressing as an institution. The idea of equitable water management throughout the state in the footprint of MWD projects is falling by the wayside. This weaponization and culture of harassment at MWD will snowball into failed climate planning that negatively impacts disadvantaged communities in Southern California for decades to come.
The MWD Board is wasting time by not completing an accurate, thorough, fair, and expeditious investigation into the questionable claims made against GM Hagekhalil. The Board is backsliding in their responsibilities to provide sustainable and affordable water service to their constituents.
Adel has worked hard to build goodwill throughout the Delta watershed which the Board is proactively throwing away. Change is hard but Adel has skillfully navigated it – even amidst those resistant to change and egged on by former leaders who would like to keep MWD trapped in a financially unsustainable cycle of water sales from diminishing exports.
This Board has directed GM Adel Hagekhalil to move forward with robust problem solving for Southern California water users. Allow him to do so and stop moving MWD backwards – justice delayed is justice denied. GM Hagekhalil needs to be cleared and reinstated, and he needs to be supported by this Board so MWD can meet their responsibilities to the public.
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