Mickelsen topped the election results, winning 1,881 votes, followed by Donovan with 1,686 votes. Johnson appeared to have lost the race, coming in third with 1,382 votes, according to results reported late Tuesday night by San Mateo County Elections Office. While all precincts were reporting, the results were unofficial.
The election victory means a third term for Mickelsen on the water board, an agency that fulfills a vital role on the Coastside.
  
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Last year, the water district celebrated completion of the El Granada pipeline, a 25-year project for water district officials. Completing the project was a personal goal for Mickelsen, who has criticized efforts to limit water availability as a way to limit growth.
Mickelsen will be joined Donovan, who will be filling the seat left by outgoing board member Everett Ascher. Donovan has previously served as a former Half Moon Bay mayor, a policeman, and a board member for the Half Moon Bay Fire Protection District. Donovan readily admitted on Tuesday that he has a lot of studying to do before he starts on the water district board.
“I’ll have to get up to speed on everything,” he said. “I like serving the community. It keeps me involved, and once you’re involved it’s hard to back off.
Donovan joked that he could now check off the water board on his list of agencies he wanted to serve on.
“I think the only thing left for me to do is serve on the Granada Sanitary District, or maybe be a dogcatcher,” he said.
Both Mickelsen and Donovan say they strongly support recycled water, a project that is also endorsed by a whopping majority of Half Moon Bay voters. Under current plans, Coastside County Water District would cooperate to distributing treated sewer water to large-scale flower growing companies.
The two candidates beat Johnson, who nonetheless ran a spirited campaign, questioning why the district has raised rates for nine consecutive years.
Johnson has criticized the water district’s reliance on purchasing water from the San Francisco Public Utility Commission, which draws its water primarily from the Hetch Hetchy water system in the Sierra mountain range. Johnson says a more sustainable long-term option would be to tap local sources — a goal that has been pursued by the neighboring Montara Water and Santiary District.
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