MMWD has no time to waste in narrowing strategies
Praying for rain worked. Streams of concentrated moisture known as “atmospheric rivers” are drenching the North Bay.
By next week, Marin Municipal Water District's dam spillways are expected to be overflowing. While that is terrific news, rain today doesn't solve Marin's long term water needs.
Coastal California is blessed by a Mediterranean climate. It's a major reason why this is such a delightful and expensive place. Characterized by mild summers and winters, it's also subject to prolonged dry spells. Right before our eyes, climate change is demonstrating that seasonal tendencies are already tilting toward the extremes.
Right now, when it's still raining, is precisely the time to aggressively commence to locate and implement new water sources and increased storage capacity to meet long-term needs of residents in Marin and Sonoma counties. I mention both counties since efforts to promote water reliability are most efficiently provided on a regional basis. There's no logical reason (other than longtime rivalries) that Marin, for a fair price, can't share with Sonoma the latter's ample underground aquifer for storage.
Over 191,000 central and southern Marin residents have their water needs supplied by the Marin Municipal Water District. Unlike its counterpart in greater Novato, the North Marin Water District, MMWD's board had pursued policies that overemphasized water conservation instead of efforts to develop new water sources and storage capacity.
Conservation must play a role, but not the dominant role. The conservation-first approach advocated by Marin's environmental community was the top issue in November's MMWD board election. Voters soundly rejected the policy when two incumbent water directors were handily defeated and a third wisely chose not to run for reelection.
The upshot is that three of MMWD's five directors are newcomers. Matthew Samson, Ranjiv Khush and Jed Smith all ran on a promise that their top priority will be analyzing options for new water sources and storage sites. They guaranteed that once those options, including desalination, were narrowed down, they would make a firm decision followed by implementation.
It was a popular policy platform. Each achieved more than 60% of the vote. The board's new working majority earned a clear mandate.
The new board majority is backed by a competent staff led by General Manager Ben Horenstein. Given the money MMWD has already spent for studies, the options analysis should be performed on an expedited basis. After that, focus on completing the detailed engineering work to design the new infrastructure. Of course, planners should be ready for the red-tape devouring boondoggle of California's environmental analysis.
Let's make one thing clear. Having a secure, four-year source of adequate water isn't cheap. Doing it right means higher water rates and perhaps incurring bonded indebtedness.
Marin can do without the grandstanding by those who are inevitably frustrated that they can't have a free lunch. Water may come from the sky, but pipelines, reservoirs, dams, water storage tanks and desalination plants are paid for in real dollars.
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In politics, “the dean” is the longest serving member in a group of elected officials. Among Marin's 55 elected mayors and council members, the current dean is Novato Councilmember Pat Eklund. She's served on her city council since first elected in 1996 and is about to commence her sixth four-year term as she was just reelected in November.
Among Marin school trustees, the record is held by Woodacre's Richard Sloan. A lifelong progressive, Sloan — now 87 — is in his 52nd year as a trustee of San Geronimo Valley's Lagunitas School District.
As the IJ wrote upon Sloan's 2020 reelection, “Except for a short hiatus in the 1980s — when he ran a brief but contentious, uproarious and unsuccessful campaign for Tamalpais Union High School District trustee — he has served continuously on the school board since 1971.”