Jeffrey Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District, knows how to deliver bad news in a positive manner.

The district distributes an average of 1.7 billion gallons of water each day to cities and local agencies in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura Counties. They, in turn, distribute the water to customers. Only the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which brings Los Angeles most of its water, approaches the MWD in size. But the process is potentially imperiled because of the drought.

Speaking to Town Hall Los Angeles Monday, Kightlinger didn’t minimize the difficulties. “Pretty much unprecedented,” he said. “I’ve never seen a drought like this.” A study of tree rings, he said, indicated this is a 500-year record.

Kightlinger, who rose through the MWD’s legal department, spoke in a calm and clear way. Having written about water politics and policy when I was with the Los Angeles Times, I was impressed with the way he took his large audience through the complexities of how the Southland obtains and distributes its water and the specifics of how it is threatened. He also told what the MWD is doing about it, although it’s up to the individual water districts in each county to make specific rules for their consumers.

He said that while population is increasing, so is water conservation. “We are accommodating more people with less water,” he said.

For the future, he said, the days of huge water projects that brought Southern California water from the Colorado River, Northern California and the Owens Valley are over. The MWD’s job, he said, is to make sure the existing sources are reliable. In view of the drought, I thought this might be more up to nature than the MWD engineers.

Much of the area’s water comes from underground sources. These must be protected from pollution and regulated in line with recently passed state law. Recycling of water will increase. The process is expensive and energy- consuming, but the MWD’s goal is to have a substantial amount of water from recycled sources in the next 25 years. Rebates to consumers will continue for use of water- saving devices. School districts will be encouraged to use artificial turf on their fields instead of water- consuming grass.

His bottom line was to urge the audience to support Proposition 1 on the November ballot, a $7.12 billion bond issue that would finance better management of waste water, captures storm water that now flows to the sea, recycling, clean up of underground water sites and create more storage facilities.

I looked around at the packed audience, mostly business people, and saw they were engaged by his talk. The question and answer period could have continued after his time was up. The drought is moving up toward the top of the list of public worries.

Santa Monica’s Bergamot Station Art Center and its old industrial surroundings is a dramatic example of how rail transit lines are changing the appearance, the employment and residential style of a Southland shaped by the automobile. Good-bye dated little enclaves, known only to local residents and a few aficionados of art and food. Hello expensive boutique hotels, shops and restaurants.

Bergamot Station, at 2525 Michigan Avenue near the intersection of Olympic Boulevard and 26th Avenue, is a collection of five old industrial buildings housing 27 galleries, designer studios, other artistic facilities and a café. It’s the best place on the Westside for artists to exhibit and sell their works. And for art lovers, it’s enlightening and much fun to visit.

Bergamot Station tells a lot about the area—past, present and future. It was built, we’re told by Wikipedia, in 1875 for the steam-powered Los Angeles and Independence Railroad. It was named for the Wild Bergamot, a flower that once flourished in the area. Later, it was a station for the Santa Monica Airline trains, part of the Pacific Electric red car system. It closed in 1953, except for occasional freight train use and sold to the city by the Southern Pacific. Eventually, galleries leased the old SP buildings, giving us the Bergamot Station we have today.

Rail is returning to the old station. The Expo line, running from downtown Los Angeles into Santa Monica, will have a station at 26th and Olympic. That has spurred a wave of development proposals that could make the dowdy intersection into a mini-Century City---hopefully one more pedestrian friendly than the chilly original. It will be called Bergamot Transit Village, with big office and residential businesses plus retail. If you think Olympic Boulevard is crowded now, wait until you drive past the transit village. Better you should take the train.

The future of Bergamot Art Center, on the edge of the proposed huge village, is at stake in all this. Much to the dismay of some of the artists and Bergamot Station veterans, the city wants to bring the center into the 21st Century while retaining the funky galleries and assuring space for the Santa Monica art museum. It wants to pull more revenue from the site with possibly a hotel, more cafes and some retail. Tuesday night, the city council voted to give the Worthe Real Estate Group the job of developing the center. But one thing is certain about Santa Monica: The opponents won’t give up. This fight will continue until building permits are awarded, some time in 2017. Expo will be completed into Santa Monica in 2016.

This is happening along every transit line. Soon people will work downtown and live on the Westside or visa versa, doing their commuting by train. Boyle Heights will be a short train ride away, as will the Crenshaw district, the growing North Hollywood art scene and the foodie-loving San Gabriel Valley. Back to the days of the Santa Monica Airline, pulling into Bergamot Station. All aboard.