I watched the Board of Supervisors’ July 18 meeting on TV, agenda item two. It first started with the hydrogen sulfide well concern and then dealt with Das Williams’s major frustration that in Montecito, private wells were stealing aquifer water from the county. After 18 landowners provided public input, including C.J. Jackson of the Alisal Ranch, who did not want any restrictions on new well permits, three supervisors — Williams, Wolf, and Hartmann — ignored the public, Adam, and Lavagnino and voted for flow meters (read water meters). If you are using city or district water, you cannot have a well permit.
The three also ignored the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act and added another bureaucratic layer to county government. Who will monitor, calibrate, and maintain the meters? And what will be the costs? It was pathetic how little the three supervisors know about water drilling and that the County may not have a handle on where existing wells are.