After unsuccessfully petitioning district staff, the long-time Carpinteria resident appealed his denial and presented his case to the full board.
Director Korey Capozza requested an explanation of the development of the deposit requirement.
No members of the public appeared to speak during the open comments section of the board meeting.
District staff reported on developments in the solar energy installation underway throughout the CVWD.
Although detailed cost estimates were unavailable, Director Case Van Wingerden raised the numerous benefits of battery storage technology, recent advances that allow for long-lasting solar batteries capable of 2,000 production cycles, roughly 3,000 days, before requiring replacement.
Vice President Matthew Roberts strongly agreed, characterizing the system as one with “greater sustainability, a smaller carbon footprint,” which “doesn’t end up costing our ratepayers anything.” Officials then turned to the status of the advanced metering infrastructure work being undertaken by the district.
District staff estimated that 100 of roughly 4,500 meters in Carpinteria are misreporting usage levels, at an average rate of 9 percent, but expressed confidence that all units will be operating at full accuracy within two months.
Local hydrogeologist Michael S. Burke, representing Pueblo Water Services, presented a fact-filled annual report on district compliance with Assembly Bill 3030, provisions for local groundwater management.
As Burke noted, water level data is “extremely important, it’s how things manifest the groundwater world.” The hydrogeologist gave an expansive description of the Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP), an ambitious project to systematize well quality monitoring, and reported that “water quality has remained stable, with no significant trends.” Board President Polly Holcombe, noting “We were never out of the drought, the governor might have said we were out of the drought but we never were,” noted the effect of 2017’s above-average rainfall, which has led to water level recovery at most area wells.
Board members also passed Resolution #1049, recognizing long-time district employee Alonzo Orozco.

The statement went on to note that seasonal rainfall over the southern peninsula, which includes five meteorological subdivisions (coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, south interior Karnataka and Kerala), had also received below-average rainfall in the same months.
In Andhra Pradesh, Visakhapatnam, Guntur and Prakasam districts received 54%, 63% and 68% less rainfall.
The southwest monsoon, the country’s principal monsoon season, also ended on a ‘below normal’ note, triggering droughts in several states.
“It is likely that several states are heading into severe drought, and the water crisis is expected to worsen in the coming months as the summer sets in.
The ‘other’ monsoon South Asia has two monsoons: the southwest or summer monsoon from June to September, and the northeast or winter monsoon between October and December.
According to a 2012 study, India receives about 11% of its annual rainfall – with many districts in the south receiving 30-60% – during the northeast monsoon season.
A 2017 report prepared by the Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai, reads: … for the extreme southeastern state of Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry…, the normal southwest monsoon seasonal rainfall realised is only about 35% (317.2 mm) of its annual rainfall (914.4 mm) as this subdivision comes under the rain-shadow region during the southwest monsoon.
On September 29 last year, the IMD issued an operational forecast for the 2018 northeast monsoon, saying that the rainfall over the south “is most likely to be normal (89%-110% of long period average), with a tendency to be [on] the positive side of the normal.” It added that the rainfall over Tamil Nadu is most likely to be above normal, i.e. over 112% of the long-term average.
And “apart from the global weather phenomenon of the El Niño Southern Oscillation, the northeast monsoon is also affected by factors like the Indian Ocean dipole and the Madden-Julian Oscillation,” he said.
Oscillations are climate patterns that involve a back-and-forth variation of some climate variable.

CAPE TOWN – The Western Cape government has pledged to spend over R90-million on a project to bring water to the drought-stricken Karoo.
READ: Karoo battles protracted drought The area is in the grip of one of the worst droughts seen in over a hundred years.
Hardly any rain has fallen in the Karoo in recent months.
Anton Bredell, the Western Cape MEC for Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning stated that soon the first phase of the Oudtshoorn water project will bring relief.
The project is a joint venture with the national government to build the infrastructure to pump water from deep underground.
Within the next few months, the provincial government said the water pipeline will be linked then phase 2 and 3 will be to examine the storage capacity in Oudtshoorn.
The project will bring piped water to a dry and desperate Karoo town by June this year.
The plan aims to set up structures to store water for dry seasons to come.

During that hearing, before the House Natural Resources committee, the lobbying machine of Pinal County agriculture — and the support of sympathetic lawmakers — was on full display.
In addition to new funds that were proposed Tuesday, they have secured, in the past month, $5 million from the Central Arizona Project and $5 million from the state to help pay for groundwater infrastructure.
That bill would create a fund for farmers in Pinal County to develop groundwater pumping infrastructure.
Arizona’s drought planning, Bahr said, had come down to a "last-minute effort to appease a few interests."
If farmers have to fallow their fields, “does it have a ripple effect throughout the state?” Cook, who owns a ranch and whose district contains portions of Pinal County, asked Chelsea McGuire, the director of government relations for the Arizona Farm Bureau.
"We all know that a lot of these farms are owned by developers already,” Engel said.
Betcher dodged the question, saying that agriculture was going to stay in Pinal County for the long term, and it would be using that groundwater infrastructure.
At Shedd’s farm, the canal of the Central Arizona Project cuts west-east across the fields, where they grow 600 acres of durum wheat, most of which goes to Italy, and upland cotton, most of which is exported to China, according to Shedd.
Of that, $1.95 million was for cotton, and just under $100,000 for wheat.
Shedd did not respond to a follow-up question about the subsidies.

– The Barbados-based Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH) says chances of drought and recurrent dry spells during the peak of the dry season have increased as the weal El Niño conditions are forecast to persist until the end of April.
Typical El Niño effects are likely to develop over North America during the winter season.
In its latest Caribbean Climate Outlook bulletin, the CIMH said that region-wide, extreme drought is likely.
“Wet days and wet spells are expected to become least frequent by March, while the chance for extreme wet spells tends to re-emerge in April, especially in the Greater Antilles, with some concern for flash flood potential arising then,” CIMH said, noting that temperatures will be seasonably comfortable at least through February, and start rising thereafter.
CIMH said that shorter drought-term situations by the end of April is evolving for the ABC islands namely, Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, as well as Barbados, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago and that shorter-term drought might possibly develop in Antigua, southern and central Belize, Cayman Islands, Guyana, St. Kitts, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Suriname.
But it noted that while a weak El Niño is expected to contribute to reduced rainfall up until April, long-term drought is evolving in Antigua, Cayman, Grenada, Martinique and Tobago and that long-term drought “might possibly develop in most other areas in the region”.
In its bulletin, CIMH said that for the period May to July this year, which is regarded as the transition period between the dry and wet season, it is expected that there will be increasing temperatures.
“This implies a gradual build-up of heat discomfort from April on wards, with the occurrence of a few heat waves becoming likely, first in Belize and Trinidad and, from July on wards, elsewhere.
“Temperatures across the region are expected to be warmer than usual.
Nevertheless, the occurrence of extreme wet spells is possible in any area, with a corresponding rise in flash flood potential,” the CIMH said in its bulletin.

The Barbados-based Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH) says chances of drought and recurrent dry spells during the peak of the dry season have increased as the weal El Niño conditions are forecast to persist until the end of April.
Typical El Niño effects are likely to develop over North America during the winter season.
In its latest Caribbean Climate Outlook bulletin, the CIMH said that region-wide, extreme drought is unlikely.
“Wet days and wet spells are expected to become least frequent by March, while the chance for extreme wet spells tends to re-emerge in April, especially in the Greater Antilles, with some concern for flash flood potential arising then,” CIMH said, noting that temperatures will be seasonably comfortable at least through February, and start rising thereafter.
CIMH said that shorter drought term situations by the end of April is evolving for the ABC islands namely, Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, as well as Barbados, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago and that shorter term drought might possibly develop in Antigua, southern and central Belize, Cayman Islands, Guyana, St. Kitts, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Suriname..
But it noted that while a weak El Niño is expected to contribute to reduced rainfall up until April, long term drought is evolving in Antigua, Cayman, Grenada, Martinique and Tobago and that long term drought “might possibly develop in most other areas in the region”.
In its bulletin, CIMH said that for the period May to July this year, which is regarded as the transition period between the dry and wet season, it is expected that there will be increasing temperatures.
“This implies a gradual build-up of heat discomfort from April onwards, with the occurrence of a few heat waves becoming likely, first in Belize and Trinidad and, from July onwards, elsewhere.
“Temperatures across the region are expected to be warmer than usual.
Nevertheless, the occurrence of extreme wet spells is possible in any area, with a corresponding rise in flash flood potential,” the CIMH said in its bulletin.

Dam levels in Gauteng and the Eastern Cape are on the decline while provinces like Mpumalanga have seen a slight increase since the summer rains from previous weeks.
Kwa-Zulu Natal dams have remained stable despite the hot summer weather conditions that the province has been facing.
The Department of Water and Sanitation released reports detailing the country’s current dam levels which shows signs that the drought is still happening in certain parts of the country.
Last week the Vaal Dam, showed a slight improvement when it went up to 75.2% from 74.0% the week before.
The Vaal Dam is the lifeblood of the Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS) and is one of the 14 dams that form the backbone of the IVRS, which contributes immensely to the economy of Gauteng.
Dam levels in the Mpumalanga Province recorded a slight increase of 0.2% from 67.6% last week to 67.8% this week.
The report also shows that InkomatiUsuthu catchment recorded a slight increase from 69.4% last week to 69.6% this week whilst the Olifants catchment slightly decreased from 58.3% to 58.2% during the same period.
The hot temperatures have led to a slight decline in some dams around the province.
Here is your weekly dam update: The Vaal River System consisting of 14 dams serving mainly Gauteng Sasol and Eskom is at 92.8%.
Here are the latest dam percentages throughout the country: For a more in-depth rainfall update, visit WeatherSA or click here.

KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny spoke about the plan with Arizona State University water policy expert Sarah Porter.
Yeah.
Writ large, the Drought Contingency Plan with the rules for saving water in Lake Mead and the schedule of cuts, that’s been agreed upon in principal by the Basin States and Mexico.
But how Arizona would share the cuts that Arizona would take is what has been the subject of a lot of negotiation this summer and fall.
To be specific, Arizona has a lot of different Colorado River users… it’s really the central Arizona and southern Arizona—the CAP customers—that have junior priority.
What’s happening with negotiations between users in cities, farms, tribes: why is this so difficult for Arizona to work out?
It’s very hard for large water users to go without water.
That’s, from their perspective, not desirable at all.
We have a lot of freshman legislators, who may have not had much contact with water policy, so we’re asking a lot of our lawmakers.
Technically what happens the Bureau will give the states 30 days to submit their suggestions about how to handle Lake Mead, and water deliveries, and then it would be up to the Bureau of Reclamation to decide how to proceed.

According to research by AgriSA, in the Eastern Cape, farmers are facing the triple financial threat the drought, land expropriation without compensation as well as veld fires.
The organisation on Friday revealed that 31 000 jobs have been lost in the sector since January 2018 and seven out of ten farmers are struggling with a bleak financial future ahead.
This could impact food security in South Africa?
Addressing the issues that the agricultural sector is facing, AgriSA CEO Omri van Zyl says there was a recovery after the 2015/2016 drought caused the maize crop went down to 7, 5 million tons for that year.
READ: Here is what Agri SA and Cosatu expect from Mboweni’s #MTBPS2018 What a lot of farmers have done is reduce their stock, their herds and they have had to get extended credit.
— Omri van Zyl, AgriSA CEO He adds that there is a real concern that many farmers will not be able to continue farming if something doesn’t shift.
There is nothing we can do about the climate and in an advanced economy, there would have been a buffer for farmers to help them through this period but unfortunately.
We don’t have that in South Africa.
The drought has caused a lot of farmers to sell their livestock at cheaper prices.
That is the challenge a lot of farmers are facing at the moment.

Rain poured on Santa Barbara a week ago, and more is expected later this week, but the city of Santa Barbara wants residents to remember one thing: “The city remains in a drought emergency,” said Kelley Dyer, water supply manager.
So far this water year, the city is ahead of the previous year.
Gibraltar Reservoir has received 15 inches of rain; Lake Cachuma has gotten 11 inches and 10 inches have fallen on downtown Santa Barbara.
“We are hoping for additional storms to come our way.” City residents are using the same amount of water today that they did in 1958, when the population was half of what it is today.
Santa Barbara residents conserved by 30 percent in December and conserved by 29 percent year over year.
Trhe city is in the eighth consecutive year of the drought.
The prior seven years are the driest years on record.
Dyer said that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasts a chance of a weak El Niño developing during the winter of 2019, so conservation remains a top priority.
“We’re still in a drought,” Dyer said.
"We’re in really good hands with your carefull planning," Sneddon said.