It’s not often that a local utilities board election sets off angry confrontations between neighbors, candidates’ faces plastered on Old West-style “wanted” posters and even a current board member hung in effigy.

But races for four seats on the Yorba Linda Water District’s board of directors have defied stereotypes of sleepy local elections, stirring up intense outrage and anger – and opening a broader debate about California’s water future. The air in Yorba Linda, the suburban Orange County city known mostly as the birthplace of Richard Nixon, has gotten tense.