Marin County Water District Enacts Tough Restrictions

MARIN COUNTY, CA — The Marin Municipal Water District last week enacted tough restrictions amid what the agency described as historic drought conditions.

Marin Water’s Board of Directors unanimously adopted mandatory restrictions at its Tuesday meeting that prohibit washing vehicles at home, power washing homes and businesses, and flooding gutters.

Watering grass on public medians and using potable water for dust control, sewer flushing and street cleaning are also prohibited.

The restrictions went into effect immediately but won’t be enforced until May 1 to give customers time to prepare.

Additional provisions of the ordinance restricting golf courses to watering tees and greens won’t go into effect until May 20.

The board will revisit further irrigation restrictions at its next scheduled meeting on May 4.

The restrictions follow two consecutive dry winters and come less than four years after that state endured an extended drought from 2013-2017.

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.

“Our goal is to reduce our overall districtwide water use by 40 percent,” Marin Water’s Board of Directors President Cynthia Koehler said in a statement.

“Our community has been through droughts before, and they have always risen to the challenge. Our most affordable reservoir of opportunity to address drought and grow our climate resilience is outdoor water use, which doubles during the summer months.

“Marin is a community that pulls together and knows how to conserve, and I have confidence that we will reach our water use reduction goal.”