Point Reyes Light - October 21, 2004

 Valley residents fight MMWD over water tank

By Jim Kravets

Directors of the San Geronimo Valley Planning Group last week resolved to persevere in their fight against Marin Municipal Water District’s plan to build a 10-million-gallon water-storage tank in Woodacre on a ridgeline site known as Blueberry.

The water district maintains that the tank is necessary in order to replace the aging Pine Mountain Tunnel which fails to meet water quality standards mandated by state and federal water quality-standards.

The $12-million project would bury a 40-by-100-by-300-foot concrete tank – approximately the size of a football field – in what community members complain is a "highly visible site."

"We’re going to take a stand against the tank," Ken Naffziger, chairman of the Planning Group told The Light. "We worked hard preserving that ridgeline. It’s very important to our way of life [in the San Geronimo Valley]."

Residents complain of ‘thousands of truckloads’

The water tank’s impact, local residents say, would be huge. According to estimates by Planning Group directors, the excavation would require from five to seven thousand truck trips on a temporary haul road, averaging 24 tons each, equating to one truck trip every five minutes for two-and-a-half months.

But even that estimate might be low, according to the Planning Group directors.

"Regarding the excavation," Naffziger said, "dirt expands once it’s dug up, so it’s more like 90,000 square yards they’ll need to haul." The water district estimated that 60,000 square yards of dirt will need to be displaced to dig the hole and bury the tank.

The water-storage tank will be constructed of concrete, and water district engineer Dana Roxon estimated that 1,000 truckloads of concrete will also be necessary in addition to the truckloads used for the excavation.

Marin Municipal staff said the project must comply with the conditions of the California Environmental Quality Act. According to Marin Municipal General Manager Paul Helliker, the next step is for the district to hire an environmental consultant.

"Following an initial study which includes public outreach, we’ll make the decision to go forward with a Negative Declaration statement or an [Environmental Impact Report]," Helliker said.

Neighbors to fight over environmental impact

By moving into the environmental review stage, the Planning Group hopes to take advantage of the legally required public-comment period to express its dissatisfaction with the proposal.

"Now with the EIR we’re officially entering the public realm," Naffziger said. "This is good, but from here on out things get tough and [the community] has to really pay attention."

Naffziger said vigilance is particularly important because the water district will have no oversight during the EIR process. Two weeks ago at a community presentation about the project, Roxon told the audience that as the "lead agency" in an EIR it ultimately falls to Marin Municipal to decide what problems they will and won’t be required to address.

Members of the Planning Group complained that this was a conflict of interest.

"That’s the fox guarding the henhouse!" Naffziger said. "We need to force the district to be clearer and more accurate about the construction impacts."

MMWD: No viable alternative

One of the reasons the district chose the Blueberry site is its position relative to the "Fairfax Transmission Line," a thirty-year-old water pipeline which tunnels through Whites Hill, connecting the San Geronimo and Ross valleys.

"I’m not sure why they chose to put [the Fairfax transmission line] there 30 years ago, but we’re stuck with the current pipelines," Roxon said. "We have to make it work with what we’ve got."

Naffziger said the planning group contests this logic, calling it a "piecemeal approach."

He said: "The San Geronimo Valley treatment plant is already geologically isolated from the rest of the system. [The water district] doesn’t understand why the transmission line is where it is. And now they’re building on this mistake with the Blueberry tank. They’re adding on another odd element."

Naffziger argued that there are other ways for the water district to upgrade its system without constructing a water tank in Woodacre, but that those alternatives would be more expensive.

"They might have to spend $20 million instead of $12 million, but that might ultimately be better for the system," he said.

Naffziger added that the district’s plans for a desalination plant on San Pablo Bay could dramatically impact the way the county gets its water. The district is currently in the testing process for the plant which, if built, district staff said would not be operating at full capacity for at least five years.

"That plant might ultimately provide 15 million gallons per day," Naffziger said. "This could really take the focus off the Valley. [The district] needs to look at the big picture."

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