Stop Desalination Before It’s Too Late
by Gene Spake
Community volunteers are circulating an initiative for placement on the November ballot that would require the Marin Municipal Water District (MMWD) to seek voter approval before taking any further steps to build a $400 million, energy intensive desalination (“desal”) plant. MMWD keeps insisting that this plant is needed to supply enough water to its existing customers. The rate payers should have a say in this venture because they are the ones who will pay for this boondoggle.
A desalination plant is not necessary in Marin and here is why: MMWD’s seven reservoirs hold more than 79,000 acre feet of water, but the district’s annual water consumption is only 28,000 acre feet or less; in 2009 we consumed a little over 26,000 acre feet. Two of MMWD’s reservoirs (Phoenix Lake and Soulajoule) have not been used for 17-20 years! The average local rainfall is a robust 52 inches, but even in dryer years the lakes provide for our needs.
In spite of MMWD’s fear card of some imagined monster “drought”, in real life the drought of record occurred over 30 years ago in 1976-77, an event which General Manager Paul Helliker loves to reference, but neglects to mention that the reservoirs have been expanded by 26,000 acre feet (a nearly 50% increase) since then. Tree-ring studies show a severe drought every 400 years! Please understand: there is enough water here and anyone who says otherwise is either misinformed or misleading the public.
The second reason to support the initiative petition is the water source for desalination: the polluted San Francisco Bay. Do you want to trade pure rainwater for polluted Bay water? MMWD claims that the plant with its expensive filters and reverse osmosis membrane will keep out dangerous contaminants, but such membranes do fail, and then what? “Trust us” they say, but should you trust people who did not tell the truth about how much water is consumed and claimed a “water deficit” that did not exist?
Finally, there is no reason to pay $400 million for what is not needed: water from a polluted bay. The MMWD is now implementing another rate increase because they did not “sell” (supply) enough water to meet their financial needs, and they promptly cut their conservation budget in half! “Conservation doesn’t work”, they cry, while bemoaning the fact that the people conserved anyway. Well if the district cannot sell enough water for their budget, what would they do with a desal plant that produced more of what they cannot sell? Maybe they will close down a reservoir? This is the kind of irrationality that characterizes the current MMWD Board and General Manager.
Every person who reads this should get a petition and help collect the 10,000 signatures needed to get this matter on the ballot.
Contact:
Bill Rothman, iboard@well.com 435-1096
Larry Rose, MD, larryrosemd@sbcglobal.net 383-6540
Adam Scow, ascow@fwwatch.org 293-9915
Loren Moore, lorenlmoore@yahoo.com 381-5369
Desalination is the wrong choice for Marin
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Desalination is unnecessary. The so-called water supply “deficit” is a fictional paper deficit. Better and more environmentally friendly options are available for improving water supply reliability. We can and should start implementing them now. Desalination diverts money, talent and energy away from conservation and improvement of infrastructure.
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Desalination is extremely expensive at over $399.5 million, including capital, financing, operations, and maintenance, compared with $45.6 million for the same water reliability benefit through conservation, efficiency, reduced pipeline leakage and better reservoir management.
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Desalination requires very high-energy use contributing to climate change. MMWD is already the largest energy user in Marin. The desalination facility would increase its energy use by about 40% to 300%, depending on the size of the facility and how it is operated.
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It’s smart to conserve water all the time
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MMWD can achieve all of its projected water needs through reliable conservation measures:
o Fix leaky water supply pipes
o Improve reservoir operations
o Crank up low flow toilet rebates
o Develop additional groundwater
o Maximize water recycling
o Respond immediately to water waste complaints
o Require mandatory conservation, enforce water waste
ordinances
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Marin water users should:
o Reduce landscape irrigation waste and excessive use
o Install low flow toilets
o Retrofit to efficient clothes washers
o Capture graywater from laundry, showers and bathroom
sinks for onsite irrigation
o Harvest rainwater utilizing cisterns
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Marin is not experiencing a drought. According to MMWD officials, “we are not even in Year One of a drought.”
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One third of water use in Marin goes to landscape irrigation. Irrigation systems are routinely set to use 30-50 percent more water than plants require, according to the 2007 MMWD Master Plan.
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Due to near-normal rainfall and reservoir levels this year, mandatory cutbacks in water usage have not been imposed. Conserving water in this district is voluntary.
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There’s plenty of water in Marin. Buff Whitman-Bradley recently interviewed former Marin Municipal Water District conservation director and Environmental Scientist James Fryer. James explains how Marin County can meet current and future water needs with our existing water supply. Click the play button below to hear the conversation.
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November Ballot Initiative
Campaign
Marin’s Water Future
Conservation
Desalination
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