Marin Mulls Additional Water Restrictions

MARIN COUNTY, CA — The Marin Municipal Water District is considering additional restrictions to the ones enacted two weeks ago.

The district’s board at Tuesday night’s meeting will vote on a proposal to implement mandatory irrigation restrictions, and to require pool covers.

The 7:30 p.m. meeting will be streamed live on Zoom.

The district covers most of southern and central Marin and serves well over 80 percent of the county’s population.

The proposal follows the board’s April 20 move to enact tough restrictions that aim to reduce water consumption by 40 percent.

The restrictions enacted last month ban washing vehicles at home, power washing homes and businesses, and flooding gutters, watering grass on public medians and using potable water for dust control.

Other restrictions include sewer flushing and street cleaning.

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

The restrictions went into effect at the time they were enacted but weren’t subject to enforcement until Saturday.

They 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 last month.

"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."

The public can attend the meeting using Zoom, or by phone.

Comments can also be emailed to BoardComment@MarinWater.org.

For meeting details, or to view the agenda packet, click here.