In the aftermath of this winter’s record-setting rains, Marin’s smaller water districts are ending the emergency restrictions declared during the drought. Once-thirsty reservoirs are filled to the brim and Marin’s creeks are flowing. “Drought is over,” proclaims a banner on the North Marin Water District’s website.
North Marin rescinded its water emergency on April 4, and the Inverness Public Utility District followed suit this week. Bolinas is expected to do the same in the coming weeks.
Yet as the rainy season recedes, officials have made it clear that it takes more than one year of heavy rainfall to erase the impacts of prolonged drought on parched earth. The risk of late-summer wildfires remains as high as ever, and the county’s water engineers are not letting down their guard. Marin’s biggest water district, Marin Water, is seeking to raise rates by 60 percent over four years to strengthen its capacity to withstand future droughts.
“Right now, we are blessed with an abundance of water,” Monte Schmitt, Marin Water’s director and board chairman, said during a recent webinar. “We are aware that we will be facing dry years in the future, potentially very soon. It’s our job to be prepared so that we can continue to deliver water to people’s taps.”
Marin Water serves central Marin and the San Geronimo Valley. If approved, its rate increase would be phased in over four years and would vary from customer to customer, pegged to water use. Proceeds would fund a mix of projects for the short, medium and long term that were outlined in a water supply roadmap the district approved this spring.
Among the short-term efforts described in the roadmap is the installation of a PG&E power line that would allow the district to pump water from Soulajule Reservoir more frequently, and a $4.5 million project that would install a connection linking Bon Tempe and Phoenix Lakes. Together, those initiatives would add nearly 222 million gallons of drinking water a year.
The district is also planning new infrastructure projects that would allow it to increase the amount of water it receives from Sonoma County, which currently provides 25 percent of Marin’s supply.
Marin Water is also investigating long-term projects such as desalinating brackish water and expanding the capacity of Kent Lake and Nicasio and Soulajule Reservoirs. The board will hold a hearing on the proposed rate increase on May 16.
Last year, North Marin Water District, which serves Point Reyes Station, Olema and Inverness Park along with Novato, completed a new well that pumps 240,000 gallons a day. The district spent $1 million on the effort.
“We’ve already bolstered our supplies with that project, which was a big deal from an investment standpoint,” said Tony Williams, the district’s general manager. The district’s West Marin supply comes exclusively from groundwater.
“The underground water table is very high right now,” Mr. Williams said. “The December rains soaked into the ground, the January rains soaked into the ground, and the March rains are sinking into the ground.”
North Marin uses the water levels in Kent Lake to gauge the health of West Marin water supplies. If 28 inches of rain have fallen at the lake by April, water levels are typically sufficient to supply the district’s needs for the year. That threshold has been surpassed.
So far this year, Marin Water has recorded over 51 inches of rain on Mount Tamalpais compared to a paltry 4.25 inches at this time last year.
Inverness, which has its own water district, relies on streams and rivulets on the ridge. Decomposing vegetation acts as a giant sponge on the forest floor, absorbing and holding rainwater and slowly releasing it over time. The district measures stream flows to assess its water supply. If a million gallons of water are flowing at any time between Jan. 1 and March 1, it considers the watershed fully charged. It reached that target by the end of February.
“A million gallons tells us that we don’t have to worry at all,” said Wade Holland, a longtime IPUD employee and former general manager of the district, which stores water in five large tanks stationed around the village. “We’re going to sail through the summer and fall.”
By April, 47.5 inches of rain had fallen in Inverness, far exceeding the annual average of 37.26 inches since record keeping began in 1925. The wettest year of all occurred in 1981, when rainfall exceeded 72 inches.
Inverness came close to imposing water rationing in 2020, but that step proved unnecessary as residents adhered to voluntary conservation measures, Mr. Holland said. At its monthly board meeting on Wednesday, the district lifted all drought-imposed water restrictions.
In Bolinas, 38 inches of rain had fallen by the end of March. Jennifer Blackman, general manager of the town’s utility district, will recommend that the board lift its water conservation alert next month.
“Our creek flows are much improved, and we have full reservoirs,” Ms. Blackman said. “A fourth consecutive year of below-average rainfall would have been very challenging for us.”
Water users in Bolinas, like those in Inverness, abided by voluntary measures during the drought, enabling the district to avoid rationing.
“We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to our customers,” Ms. Blackman said. “Because the district was able to avoid mandatory water restrictions, there are none to lift. That said, we always encourage our residents to conserve water due to the limited nature of our water supply, which is very responsive to current weather conditions.”
In Marin’s larger water districts, restrictions on some nonessential uses remain; they have been imbedded into ongoing regulations, regardless of drought. Customers are discouraged from using irrigation systems to water lawns and must use a hose with a shutoff attachment when washing cars or boats. They are also encouraged to repair any plumbing leaks promptly.
Despite all the rain, the risk of wildfires later in the year continues unabated, said Mark Brown, the executive officer of the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority. “Due to our Mediterranean climate, California dries out every year, regardless of the rain in the winter,” he said. “It is just a matter of when.”
Wet years produce more vegetation, and thus more fuels to burn when plants dry out in the summer. “Historically, after every drought-busting winter, we have a catastrophic fire season,” Mr. Brown said. “It just starts later.”