Water district GM sees evolving customer partnership

As delightfully wet as Marin is right now, the recent rain will not end our drought.

The “water year” ending Sept. 30 was the second-driest in 143 years, and climate change guarantees we’ll see its like again, or worse.

For more than 100 years, the fundamental mission of the Marin Municipal Water District has been to provide an uninterrupted supply of quality water to our customers in southern and central Marin at a reasonable price. As general manager, I can say we will continue to deliver even as natural challenges mount.

Keeping our local water supply safe, healthy and reliable requires innovation and change. The district’s strategy is to expand supplies while partnering with our 191,000 customers to moderate use to levels that make sense for our new reality.

Like the rest of California, Marin Water is moving into what Newsha Ajami, Stanford University’s director of urban water policy, recently described as “a new era of water resource management to reduce overall demand through recycled water infrastructure, landscaping restrictions and water efficiency … instead of trying to conquer nature.”

MMWD faces that challenge from a position of strength. Years of sound fiscal management have provided the district strong financial reserves, a “AAA” bond rating, and excellent financial audits — enabling investments to move forward while keeping rates affordable.

First, we are partnering with the community to drive water efficiency. When the county (and all of California) declared water emergencies last spring, we asked our customers to increase efficiency by 40% and enhanced our rebate programs for smart water-saving products and technologies. We also offer at-home conservation coaching by calling 415-945-1523. Starting Dec. 1, we have established water use limits and excessive water use will be discouraged through financial penalties.

As the district’s weekly Water Savings Tracker shows, we’ve made encouraging progress. Marin now uses about 84 gallons of water per person per day (down from 124). That is competitive with most districts in the Western United States, as well as such famously water-saving nations as Israel.

Second, the district has spent years studying and exploring all avenues to boost water supply.

This past week, the MMWD Board of Directors approved the preliminary stages of an “emergency intertie” pipeline beneath the upper deck of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge to connect Marin to multiple willing water suppliers across California and the West.

We are grateful for the generous cooperation of our counterparts at the East Bay Municipal Utility District and the Contra Costa Water District.

As planning for the pipeline continues, the district pledges to ally with our neighbors in Richmond, where some intertie facilities will be located, to address construction-related impacts and leave any neighborhood we enter better than before.

Although Marin-only desalination is not feasible in the short-term and will place far too heavy a financial burden on our ratepayers, the district is constantly evaluating desalination as the technology evolves and working with other water districts to explore affordable, environmentally sound regional desalination options.

We are also working with our long term partner, the Sonoma County Water Agency, on groundwater storage to capture and bank water during wet winters, as well as expansion of our recycled water system.

Above all, we are grateful to our customers — our partners — for doing their part. Strong as that partnership is, I want to make clear it’s not designed to provide water for lush, green lawns and luxuriant, thirsty gardens. Marin will remain beautiful in ways that make sense.

As Albert Einstein warned in another context, “Everything has changed but our way of thinking.”

Climate has changed everything about water, so the district and the community must change our way of thinking. We are evolving our partnership to wean ourselves off outdated historical levels of water use while constantly innovating to expand sustainable and affordable supply.

Together, we will keep the water flowing.