As chairman of the Metropolitan Water District Board of Directors, I am proud to be part of a group that shapes the district’s policies so that we best serve the 18 million people in Southern California who rely on our imported water to supplement their local supplies.

For the past 75 years, Metropolitan has had the benefit of an active board process that serves us well today. Getting a high-quality and reliable supply of water to our customers is so much more than just the construction of pipelines, canals and treatment plants. It takes planning, foresight, and a commitment to the environment and to our customers. It takes vision.

And vision is what this agency has in abundance. When large engineering projects defined how water agencies responded to increasing demand for water, Metropolitan began focusing
on local resources and partnerships with other water users.We secured imported supplies, then strengthened our local agencies’ abilities to recapture and store their own groundwater, and gave ourselves as much flexibility to buy, move and store alternate supplies as we could. While others concentrated on infrastructure, we built relationships that, like our solid infrastructure, helps us weather the uncertainties of our business.

The district’s accomplishments in recent years are a testament to both our legacy and our vision. Those include the Integrated Resources Plan, which explains how we will meet water demands over the coming decades; a long-range Capital Improvement Program; a strategic plan; new rate structure and enviable bond ratings that help us anticipate and cover costs; and a conservation campaign that brought unprecedented acceptance of water efficiency through responsible landscape design and irrigation in new and existing homes.

We’re proud of our legacy. But now a new plan is under way that builds on past success and sets goals for the next five years to create an even better Metropolitan.

First, our insurance is our workforce. In order to provide a supportive and dynamic workplace for all employees, Metropolitan has established strong links between the board and staff and encourages ethical behavior at all levels.

Second, we continue strengthening connections with our communities.We nurture relationships with elected officials and encourage regional and small businesses to bid on Metropolitan projects. Small businesses are the backbone of our communities and 40% of the contracts Metropolitan awarded in 2004-05 went to them.

Third, our duty to conservation cannot be overstated. Our recently trademarked California Friendly program encourages waterwise choices that sustain our progressive Southern California lifestyle while leading to greater efficiency. We must also engage critics in sharing the responsibility for conservation, challenge the environmental community to get
involved in finding solutions and emphasize the data which shows the considerable per capita water use savings brought by conservation.

Fourth, Metropolitan must support the expansion of local reuse projects, support legislation that extends reuse opportunities and actively pursue further development of desalination to best serve the changing needs of our agency and its members.

Fifth, we must continue investing in programs that stretch our supplies to meet water demands through 2025.

In conclusion, Metropolitan’s strength stems from the knowledge that our people and planning are vital elements in our vision for the coming decades. This report gives you the financial data and shows a few of the faces behind the numbers that have made Metropolitan as reliable as the supply of water we provide.

Wesley M. Bannister
Chairman