With creek levels dropping, Inverness moved to enact a mandatory water rationing plan on Wednesday. Rationing will be triggered if the Inverness Public Utility District’s water storage system falls below 50 percent capacity over a seven-day running average.
“We’re not at that critical point yet, but it could happen quickly,” said Wade Holland, the district’s customer services manager. “It could change in days.”
The Stinson Beach County Water District adopted a similar mandatory rationing regime last Saturday. If the district’s storage tanks fall below 70 percent capacity for a week, the district will enforce a limit of 125 gallons per meter per day, with exceptions for larger households.
“Hopefully we’ll never hit that trigger point, but this is a pretty severe drought,” Ed Schmidt, the general manager, told the Light.
IPUD is faced with the more dire water situation. Stream flows are low, and the district is managing a 700-gallon per day shortfall. Yet there is hope that demand will go down in coming weeks: Use typically dips after Labor Day. Kids are back in school and some weekend families are returning to their primary homes.
At the same time, IPUD is making repairs that could add more than 10,000 gallons of daily capacity. The district tested a never-used well in Third Valley last weekend, and is contracting with tank divers to fix a leak in the aging 60,000-gallon Tenney tank, which is set to be replaced soon. Despite these fixes, Mr. Holland recommended the district prepare to ration.
“On the one hand, we may be able to squeak by until winter without having to ration at all,” he wrote in a staff report. “On the other hand, any number of factors could send us into an emergency downward spiral at any moment with little warning.” An intense heatwave, a breakdown at the treatment plant, or a large fire could leave IPUD in the lurch.
If rationing is triggered, IPUD will allow 50 gallons per day per meter, plus 25 additional gallons per full-time resident.
IPUD first declared a water emergency in July 2020; earlier this month, it went a step further, banning outdoor irrigation systems, the washing of cars and the filling of pools. Violators could be fined in the thousands or even face jail time.
The district also purchased 150 Flume meters to offer to customers at half price. The devices strap onto meters and provide a relatively cheap and easy way for households to monitor their own use; just 112 customers have bought Flumes so far. Until the devices are more widespread, the district can’t rely on them for enforcement of rationing; its operations team will determine compliance by looking at average daily use at the end of each two-month billing cycle.
Dakota Whitney, vice president of the board, raised a concern that weekenders could make a disproportionate dent in water use, as they could use hundreds of gallons in a weekend without exceeding their allowance. “Potentially that kind of use could drain our tanks,” she said.
But other board members said the district is closely monitoring the town’s 46 short-term rentals and hasn’t identified any clear problems.
IPUD is also exploring the possibility of staking a claim to a fraction of the water Marin is planning to import across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. On Wednesday, the board approved a letter to Marin Water asking its board to consider allowing Inverness to access what amounts to just over three cups of the water per second by way of its emergency connection to North Marin Water District.
Inverness and Stinson Beach are among the first few communities in West Marin to turn to mandatory rationing amid an exceptional drought that is straining suppliers across California.
In Bolinas, authorities have had their finger on the trigger of mandatory rationing since February. A billboard posted by the Bolinas Community Public Utility District at the entrance to town keeps track of the community’s seven-day average water use. Despite a few close calls, Bolinas has avoided reaching its trigger of 66,000 gallons a day.
Mr. Holland hopes the same will be true in Inverness. IPUD plans to keep customers up to date on storage levels with a sign installed downtown. If the town approaches the trigger, the district will send out emails and make phone calls. “Our goal is for people to comply,” Mr. Holland said, “not for us to go out and zap people.”