Trickle of enthusiasm doesn’t diminish water board race

While voters in Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills and Westlake Village won't see a single contested city council race on their November ballots — every open seat drew zero challengers — one local contest is giving residents a genuine choice: the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District's Division 2 seat, where board president Andy Coradeschi is facing newcomer Teri L. Davis.

Both candidates live in Agoura Hills, with Coradeschi residing in Liberty Canyon, The Acorn reported. The race is Coradeschi's first real campaign; when he joined the board in December 2022 representing Division 2 — which covers parts of southern Calabasas, Malibu Canyon, Liberty Canyon, Malibu Junction and parts of Cornell — he was the only candidate on the ballot.

Why a low-profile race matters

Water board elections rarely draw crowds, but the decisions made by the LVMWD board hit residents directly — in their monthly bills and in the long-term reliability of their taps in a region chronically prone to drought. The district serves the Las Virgenes corridor, an area almost entirely dependent on imported water, and is in the middle of one of its most consequential infrastructure projects in decades.

Coradeschi, who has a background in civil and environmental engineering, told The Acorn he's glad to finally have an opponent. Knocking on doors, he said, has brought him closer to the district's customers than his nearly four years on the board alone.

"I've been really happy with running this campaign," Coradeschi said. "I've spent a lot of time canvassing the neighborhoods, and I didn't know what to expect. I've been happily surprised by the reception I've gotten from voters, from the friendliness they've shown me to the solid questions they've asked about issues that really affect our district."

His challenger, Teri L. Davis, could not be reached for comment by The Acorn. The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's election website lists her occupation as retired public administrator but provides no contact information, and her campaign has drawn little visible presence in the district.

What voters are asking about

On the campaign trail, three issues dominate conversations with ratepayers, Coradeschi said.

The first is stormwater. Residents in the drought-prone area frequently ask why rainwater is allowed to run off into the ocean rather than being captured for later use. "And they're right," Coradeschi said. "We should be saving that water, and we are working on some programs with our local cities to gather that stormwater and use it." He noted the district also works with neighboring water agencies on water banking — storing stormwater in underground aquifers for future use when supplies tighten.

The second is rising water prices, an issue Coradeschi acknowledged is a difficult conversation. "Nobody wants to hear, 'Well, everything is going up,'" he said. "However, that unfortunately is just the world that we are living in now." He pointed to the district's water-banking strategy — acquiring water at current prices and storing it against future cost increases — as one tool for keeping rate growth as low as possible.

The third is the safety of the Pure Water Project, the district's advanced purification plant that will recycle wastewater into drinking water. Some residents have voiced concerns, but Coradeschi emphasized the technology is well established. "The technology has been in use for many decades, for many millions of people around the globe, and it is thoroughly proven and highly regulated," he said.

The Pure Water Project takes shape

The Pure Water Project is the district's marquee undertaking, and its progress is being watched closely in Agoura Hills, where the treatment facility is being built. When complete, the project is expected to supply up to 30% of the district's potable water — creating a local water source for the first time and reducing the region's reliance on the State Water Project and the vagaries of California's precipitation.

That dependence has long been the area's vulnerability. The Las Virgenes corridor sits at the end of the import pipeline, meaning dry years in Northern California translate directly into supply stress locally — a reality that helped drive the district toward recycled water as a drought-proof supply.

Pipeline construction began this month on Agoura Road in Westlake Village, and Coradeschi said the work is on schedule and within budget — a notable status update for a project of this scale, where cost overruns would ultimately land on ratepayers.

The rest of the ballot

The Division 2 contest aside, the LVMWD board will see little turnover. Incumbent directors Gary Burns and Jay Lewitt, who represent Divisions 3 and 5 respectively, are running unopposed, according to The Acorn.

For Agoura Hills voters, that makes the Coradeschi–Davis race the only local decision with an actual choice attached — and Coradeschi said he intends to keep canvassing through Election Day to reach as many voters as possible.

The winner will serve as the district navigates the final construction years of the Pure Water Project, ongoing rate pressures, and the continuing challenge of stretching imported water supplies across a region where every drop of rain currently running to the sea represents an increasingly expensive missed opportunity.