Marin is meant to be lush, despite poor water district

As the saying goes, your poor planning is not my emergency. But, in this case, I believe we all have an emergency thanks to poor planning by Marin Municipal Water District officials.

Despite being one of the wealthiest counties in the U.S., Marin now has water cutbacks, penalties and pleas for cooperation. Meanwhile, there are more than 15,000 working desalination plants around the world. Ben Horenstein, MMWD’s general manager, said that district leaders are constantly evaluating desalination as a solution. That’s hopeful, but how many decades will they continue to evaluate?

Voters approved a desalination plan in 2010, yet board members appear to have been resistant.

I want to hear every board members’ stance on desalination as a long-term solution. Let’s pull up our big boy (and big girl) pants, stop evaluating and make some difficult decisions. We cannot depend on outside water suppliers.

In the next election, MMWD board members running to keep their seats should have their positions and qualifications scrutinized.

In his recently published Marin Voice commentary (“Water district general manager sees evolving partnership with customers,” Oct. 23), Horenstein quoted Albert Einstein (“Everything has changed but our way of thinking.”) to state that Marin is “not designed to provide water for lush, green lawns and luxuriant, thirsty gardens.”

Horenstein must be new to Marin County. Generations have stayed here while more people have moved here in large part for its beauty, much of which is actually lush.

— Paula Beritzhoff, Ross