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A board member of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has been censured for making a racist remark about an Arab American employee.

The MWD board of directors voted to censure John Morris, a member representing the city of San Marino, after an investigation found that he used a racist term when he referred to a staff member at a board event last year. The district said the investigation was conducted in response to an anonymous complaint and determined that Morris’ remark violated the MWD’s antidiscrimination policy.

Continued funding for a giant underground tunnel that would reroute part of drought-prone California’s water supply was approved by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

The $142 million in funds for pre-construction and planning costs is key to the Delta Conveyance Project, which state officials have described as critical to water supplies and transport around the state due to aging infrastructure and climate change-related shifts in precipitation.

The country’s biggest water supplier is set to vote tomorrow on whether to fund one of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s top priorities on water — and he’s not leaving the result up to chance.

Newsom and his top aides are leaning on board members and top staff at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to approve additional funding to plan and permit the Delta Conveyance Project, a version of which has been floating around — first as a canal, then a pair of tunnels — for more than half a century.