Point Reyes Light - September 30, 2004
A water-tank confab for MMWD & Valley
By Jim Kravets
Directors of Marin Municipal Water District will hold a community meeting at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 5, in the San Geronimo Valley Community Center to discuss proposed construction of a 10-million-gallon water tank on the eastern ridge above Woodacre on a site commonly known as "Blueberry Hill."
After preparing information on the project, the district asked the San Geronimo Valley Planning Group to moderate a meeting on the proposal.
"The construction impacts are just huge," said Planning Group chairman Ken Naffziger, "with major impacts on life in Woodacre and the Valley." The 40-by-100-by-300-foot concrete tank, approximately the size of a football field, would be mostly buried in a 60-foot deep hole. Many Valley residents have complained the site is "highly visible."
Naffziger estimated that, for the excavation, 5,000 to 7,000 truck trips, averaging 24 tons each, would be required on a temporary hauling road. "That’s a truck trip every five minutes for two-and-a-half months!" said Naffziger.
Members of the Planning Group have been dubious about the project’s necessity. "We simply don’t have a clear enough picture why [MMWD] really needs it," Naffziger told The Light. "We know why they want it but not why they need it."
The water tank could potentially reduce the threat to San Geronimo Valley households in the event of a fire, a study by Marin Municipal and county fire officials concluded. At present, only 1.5 million gallons are stored in the Valley. But fire protection is not the main motivation for the tank, MMWD acknowledged.
"The new tank is principally for water quality reasons," Libby Pischel, spokes-woman for MMWD, told The Light. The district is currently using the 1.6-mile-long Pine Mountain Tunnel built in 1918 to store water for the Fairfax area.
Pischel said the tunnel does not meet updated state and federal water-quality standards for water storage, so the district needs a new storage tank. The tunnel’s lining is the problem, she said. "The new tank is necessary," Pischel said. "Without it we can’t meet the new water quality standards."