General (23)
Susana Barrios
From:Stephanie Mercadante <burglin.stephanie@gmail.com>
Sent:Tuesday, July 14, 2026 5:53 PM
To:Public Comment
Subject:\[EXTERNAL\] On Behalf of Stephanie Mercadante, District 4, Councilmember Norma
Campos Kurtz
Warning: This email originated from outside the City of Anaheim. Do not click links or open
attachments unless you recognize the sender and are expecting the message.
For public comment on July 14, 2026:
One of the questions residents keep asking is, "Who made the decision to flush 10 million gallons of
our drinking water?"
That decision was not a unilateral decision by one manager. Eleanor Busito, the City’s laboratory
manager, is responsible for reviewing the elevated THM results.
Richard Salas, the Water Systems Operations Superintendent, and Keith McDonald, the former
Water Operations Manager, both hold T5 licenses. The T5 license is the highest treatment
certification issued by the State of California.
Those licenses signify that Richard Salas and Keith McDonald are qualified to operate and supervise
drinking water treatment plants, chemical dosing, regulatory compliance, water quality, and public
health.
Yet, Eleanor Busito, Richard Salas, and Keith McDonald collectively ordered excessive flushing
before compliance testing. Not once. Not twice. The flushing went on for months after the water
turned brown and the THM levels exceeded State levels.
Why was this allowed? Are there no guard rails to prevent flushing before compliance testing?
Turns out there are. Busito, Salas, and McDonald may have ordered the flushing, but they don’t
manage the team that performs the flushing.
That responsibility belongs to Cecil Looney, who holds a D5 Water Distribution Operator License.
That license signifies that Cecil Looney is qualified to operate and supervise the drinking water
distribution system including pipelines, hydrant flushing, water quality throughout the system, and
regulatory compliance.
Cecil Looney also oversees the division responsible for hydrant flushing. It is his responsibility to
ensure that any flushing is in compliance with the Safe Water Drinking Act. Yet, more than 10
million gallons were still flushed by his staff.
And all of these City employees report to Craig Parker, Water Operations Manager.
And what do they all have in common? Not one of them has provided an answer to our repeated
questions regarding the brown water and the excessive flushing.
City of Anaheim residents deserve better than silence.
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