Alumnus to Join Race for Water Board

A former city council candidate and UC Berkeley alumnus is throwing his hat in the ring for a seat on the East Bay Municipal Utilities Board of Directors.

Andy Katz, 26, announced his plans earlier this month to take out filing papers for the regional water board, which provides running water and sewage services to 1.3 million people in the East Bay.

If elected, Katz will be one of seven board members governing the 325- square mile water district. The ward Katz would serve includes Berkeley, Albany, Emeryville, Kensington, El Cerrito and part of Oakland.

Katz kicked off his campaign at a historic EBMUD pumping plant which is now the Vintage Berkeley wine store. Several elected officials, including Mayor Tom Bates, Assemblymember Loni Hancock, Councilmember Kriss Worthington and Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson, were in attendance.

"This is really a multi-everything kind of group that's standing here," Carson said. "I think that says something profound about Andy."

Katz was also joined by Planning Commissioner and former EBMUD board member Helen Burke, who along with retiring incumbent David Richardson, is endorsing his campaign.

"This is an exciting moment," Katz said. "Berkeley is the place where new leadership begins."

Since losing his city council bid in 2002 to Gordon Wozniak, Katz has continued his tenure on the city's Zoning Adjustments Board, lobbied for the Sierra Club and joined Carson's staff.

Serving on the board is an opportunity to influence a variety of environmental issues, Katz said.

"EBMUD is an important agency for protecting our environment, from promoting water conservation to ensuring clean drinking water," he said.

Carson said Katz will be effective at addressing EBMUD's largest challenges.

"People just turn on the faucet and assume water will come out. They assume they can consume it," he said. "These are assumptions we make every day even as our population continues to grow."

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