Beginning in 2016, when Montecito was under rationing and a group of wealthy residents started funding a shakeup of the water board, the challengers running for office promised to bring water recycling to the community in the drought.
Over three election cycles — in 2016, 2018, and 2020 — running twice as “Your Water Security Team,” candidates promised “greater use of recycled wastewater for landscaping” and vowed to put an end to or upgrade the disposal of treated wastewater through an ocean pipeline, a practice widely in use throughout the South Coast and beyond. Riding a voter backlash against rationing, and backed by $256,000 in donations, they swept nine of 10 seats on the Water and Sanitary District boards.
During the 2018 campaign, the Water Security Team threatened to sue the Sanitary District. Three weeks before the election, someone filed an anonymous complaint against an incumbent on the district board, falsely accusing him of violating state conflict-of-interest laws. The claim was thrown out, but the incumbent, a retired executive who had had a career overseeing the development of water recycling systems, lost his seat.