Fox Canyon authorizes $62,240 pilot with ESA to automate groundwater accounting in Los Posas

The Fox Canyon GMA board on June 24 authorized the executive officer to execute a professional services contract with Environmental Science Associates (ESA) not to exceed $62,240 to pilot a groundwater accounting platform in the Los Posas Valley.

Staff said the pilot would assemble multiple data sources—metered extraction, self‑reported statements and evapotranspiration (ET) estimates—to cross‑check usage and produce more timely, defensible extraction statements. “On the date that the statement is due, we ask the system what the number is. They give us a number. That’s the number that’s billed and that’s the number that’s recorded for usage,” the executive officer said, adding that pumpers would retain an opportunity to challenge automated figures.

Board members asked whether the system and data hosting would be controlled by the agency and how the county's fiscal processes interact with any new platform. Staff said ESA's platform is proprietary and would be cloud‑hosted by ESA, with the agency retaining control over implementation decisions; invoicing and county fiscal processes remain a separate step outside the pilot.

A local grower, Daryl Smith, asked whether the pilot was redundant given existing well meters and monitoring; staff clarified that the 80% compliance figure cited earlier was agency‑wide and not specific to Los Posas Valley and that the pilot aims to provide cross‑source reconciliation where reporting gaps remain.

The motion to approve and authorize the executive officer to execute the ESA contract not to exceed $62,240 was moved, seconded and carried by voice vote. The pilot is expected to take approximately six months and, if successful, could be expanded to additional basins after debugging in Los Posas.