LAKE ELSINORE -- Incumbent water district director Phil Williams has been certified as a candidate in the November election for one of two available seats on the water district's board of directors.

The other incumbent up for re-election is Harvey Ryan, president of the board and the Division 2 representative.

Williams, 47, has represented the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District's Division 4, which covers the northern reaches of Lake Elsinore since 1998. Division 2 encompasses the Interstate 15 corridor and part of downtown. Ryan has pulled papers to defend his seat, but they were not filed by Thursday.

Williams, a self-employed real estate broker and member of a fifth-generation Lake Elsinore family, has championed the use of recycled water. The district is the first in the state to use recycled water in a public recreational lake in which people enter the water.

Williams also worked on a settlement agreement with the city of Lake Elsinore, ending a long-standing feud over water rights.

In recent months, Williams has worked on a "green lien" program that would allow the district to leave the water turned on at foreclosed properties for landscape maintenance. The district would recoup the expense through a lien process when the home is eventually sold.