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The would-be general manager of a troubled suburban water utility is the general manager of a troubled city water utility.

The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission governing board Thursday tapped Jerry N. Johnson, general manager of the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority, to be its new chief, pending salary negotiations and a background check.

The WSSC has been roiled for more than a decade by management upheaval and recently has experienced a record number of ruptures of its aging water pipes. WASA has had its share of controversy, including scares about lead levels in the city's drinking water.

WASA had an $8 million deficit when Johnson arrived 12 years ago. He is credited with putting it on solid financial footing.

"I enjoy dealing with challenges and dealing with things that need to be adjusted and fixed," Johnson said.

The utility's board gave conditional approval to hiring Johnson in a closed-door conference call meeting Thursday.

Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D), who helped marshal Johnson's selection with Prince George's County Executive Jack Johnson (D), said he wasn't worried about the lead issue.

"I think that was sort of blown out of proportion, and some of the things were pointed in a direction that they should not have been," Leggett said.

In April, Jerry Johnson announced that he would be leaving WASA, and a D.C. critic said his move is not good news for the two counties.

"This is not a happy day for you guys. Seriously, folks need to be extra vigilant about not only the safety of their drinking water but also be always vigilant of the truthfulness of any assurances from now on about the safety of the water," said Yanna Limbrinidou, president of Parents for Nontoxic Alternatives, a D.C. organization of about 60 families that serves as a WASA watchdog.

The group blames Jerry Johnson for failing to inform D.C. residents about the extent of the lead contamination.

"Implying that Jerry mishandled [the lead] issue is accepting one side of an issue where people were rightfully alarmed," said Montgomery County Chief Administrative Officer Timothy L. Firestine, who is also vice chairman of the WASA board.

The Army Corps of Engineers, not WASA, supplies Washington's water, and it's up to them to see that it does not contain high lead levels, Firestine said.

But Limbrinidou said WASA timed its water quality tests for seasonal periods when lead levels are historically low. And they ask testers to flush their pipes before taking samples, which would reduce the lead content, she said.

Jerry Johnson said in an interview Thursday that the Environmental Protection Agency and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that the lead impacts were "minuscule," and changes in treatment lowered lead levels.

In an April letter to Jerry Johnson, an EPA official turned down a request for further study, noting that reducing lead levels in water is valuable but that it is hard to assess the impact because paint, dust and air contribute to exposure.

Leggett said Firestine and Jacqueline Brown, an aide to Jack Johnson who serves on the WASA board, went over all the questions surrounding Jerry Johnson and the lead contamination issue.

"They are well satisfied with his performance," he said.

WSSC serves about 1.8 million people in Montgomery and Prince George's counties. WASA has about 2 million customers in the District and parts of Maryland and Virginia.

Johnson's tentative hiring, first reported on Gazette.net, would end a nearly 16-month search for a general manager that had bogged down in differences between the two counties' representatives on the six-member commission.

Earlier this year, it looked like WSSC's search for a chief was over. In March, Leggett and Jack Johnson nominated David E. Chardavoyne, who led the San Antonio Water System, to head the local utility. Chardavoyne fell out of favor with Prince George's commissioners and Johnson after they learned he had been the subject of a discrimination claim by an employee of the San Antonio utility.

"I'm ecstatic," Gene Counihan, one of three Montgomery WSSC commissioners, said of Jerry Johnson's selection. "We've seen his references, completed 95 percent of the background check. He's a man with outstanding experience and demonstrated leadership."