Novato, Northern Marin To See Key Water Supply Cut: Report

MARIN COUNTY, CA — A key supplier of water to northern Marin County announced it will cut exports 20 percent this summer, The Marin Independent Journal reports.

The Novato area gets around 75 percent of its water supply from Sonoma Water and central and Southern Marin get about 25 percent of its supply from the agency, the report said.

The cuts go into effect July 1.

Marin County declared a drought emergency Tuesday.

Gov. Gavin Newsom last week declared a drought emergency for Sonoma County but left out Marin. The entire Bay Area moved into the "extreme" drought category as classified by the U.S. Drought Monitor, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The MMWD serves around 190,000 residents in central and southern Marin. The North Marin Water District serves around 64,000 residents including most of Novato.

“Our customers have historically heeded the call and have done a really good job,” North Marin Water District General Manager Drew McIntyre told the Independent Journal.

“We were anticipating these reductions and that’s why we implemented the emergency water conservation ordinances.”

With only 20 inches of rainfall last year, 2020 marked the second-driest year in 90 years.

The district declared a drought in mid-February and launched a public awareness campaign asking customers to conserve water by voluntarily cutting back on irrigation, not washing vehicles, and conserving water indoors.

Persistent warm, dry weather lowered Marin Water's reservoir storage capacity to 52 percent—the lowest level in nearly 40 years.

Storage levels for this time of year are typically more than 90 percent.

Much of the West Coast including nearly all of California is experiencing drought conditions.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, as of May 11 94.3 percent of California is in a severe drought, 73.3 percent of the state is in an extreme drought and 13.5 percent is experiencing "exceptional drought" conditions.

Read more in The Marin Independent Journal