Claiming a North Marin Water District sewage spill in October has severely crippled their operations, oyster growers from two Tomales Bay companies Tuesday asked district directors to quickly reimburse them for lost revenue.
"We're not asking for the moon here," said John Finger, co-owner of Hog Island Oyster Company. "We're asking for lost revenue. We just want to get back in business."
District directors, having heard the oyster farmers' appeals, closed their public meeting and privately mulled over claims submitted by Hog Island and Bay Bottom Beds.
Bay Bottom Beds as of last week had reported losses of about $30,000.
And those losses are mounting. Tomales Bay oyster farms owned by Hog Island, Bay Bottom Beds, and Point Reyes Oyster Company are still closed - six weeks after more than a million gallons of partially treated sewage water spilled out of a broken irrigation pipe into Walker Creek.
The Regional Water Quality Control Board has threatened to fine the water district up to $10,000 for every day North Marin allowed sewage water to flow off of water district-owned land, a violation of the state's Water Quality Act.
North Marin's insurance policy covers only mishaps that cost more than $1 million. If the district decides to settle the oyster companies' claims, it is still unclear whether the 89 customers on the Tomales sewer system would be hit with the bill, or whether it would spread over the entire district, including thousands of customers in Novato.
Three weeks ago, Hog Island Oyster Company was allowed to resume harvesting, but the rains came just days later and state regulators were forced to halt all harvesting again. Oyster farms are automatically closed for five days whenever more than half an inch of rain falls within 24 hours.
The problem, the growers told water district directors, is that it takes about six days to get results from two tests, and that one of the two tests keeps coming back too high in fecal coliform bacteria.
Finger told directors the test results have varied wildly. What's happening, he said, is that a test will return with safe levels of bacteria "and then, Bang! We spike up again. You can definitely tell that there's something going on in that part of the bay."
Given the testing schedule and delays due to rain, "I'm already missing Thanksgiving sales," Finger said. "The last set of samples is one of the best we've seen in the past couple of weeks, so we're keeping our fingers crossed."