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Corte Madera, CA April 2011 | |
The Inside Source is produced by Marin Municipal Water District to inform local decisionmakers and opinion leaders on issues affecting Marin's water, people, and environment.
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| MMWD Board of Directors |
Jack Gibson
President
Cynthia Koehler
Vice President
David Behar
Armando Quintero Larry Russell
Regular meetings of the MMWD Board of Directors are held at 7:30 pm the first and third Wednesday of every month in the District Board Room, 220 Nellen Avenue, Corte Madera. Special meetings are scheduled as needed. All board meetings are open to the public.
(415) 945-1455
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Public Meetings
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Wed., Apr. 27, 7:30 pm
WATER RATE
PUBLIC HEARING
Council Chambers
San Rafael City Hall
1400 Fifth Avenue
Wed., May 4, 7:30 pm
BOARD MEETING
Board Room
Wed., May 18, 7:30 pm
BOARD MEETING
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RESERVOIRS FULL AS SPRING RAINS CONTINUE; RAINFALL FOR YEAR ABOVE AVERAGE
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MMWD's seven reservoirs are still at 100-percent capacity thanks to the above-average rainfall we've seen this spring. Average reservoir storage for this date is 90 percent of capacity. Average rainfall year to date (July 1-April 20) is 49.33 inches; actual rainfall this year is 61.64 inches.
Current rainfall and reservoir figures can be found on the homepage of our website.
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BOARD TO VOTE ON 4-PERCENT RATE INCREASE PROPOSAL AT APRIL 27 PUBLIC HEARING
| The MMWD Board of Directors will vote on a proposed 4-percent rate increase at a public hearing scheduled for Wednesday, April 27, at 7:30 pm in the San Rafael City Council Chambers. If passed, the rate increase would go into effect for water used as of May 1, 2011 and would be reflected in meter readings and water bills as of July 1, 2011. To read the proposed rate increase notice, click here. Even with this proposed rate increase, water from MMWD is a good value, costing just ½ cent per gallon delivered to homes and businesses 24/7.
Under the proposal the average customer's bill would go up $3.72 per two-month billing period, increasing from $90.72 to $94.44 based on the average use of 21 CCFs* of water per billing period. Approximately 70 percent of MMWD customers keep their consumption at the Tier 1 level, which is 26 CCFs or less, in the summer. In the winter, when Tier 1 tops out at 21 CCFs, nearly 80 percent of customers are in Tier 1.
MMWD is proposing the rate increase to cover higher costs in the new fiscal year, which starts July 1, 2011. The higher costs are in the areas of purchasing (water, chemicals and electricity) and employee costs (retirement funding and health insurance).
The district has made extensive budget cuts in the last two years to keep expenses below revenues, which have dropped significantly. The current fiscal year's budget was cut by $18 million and the previous year's by $4.7 million. Cuts included slashing overtime and making other reductions related to employee costs, reducing water purchases, delaying capital projects, suspending the conservation rebate program, and postponing natural resources management programs on the Mt. Tamalpais Watershed.
The San Rafael City Council Chambers is located at 1400 Fifth Avenue in San Rafael.
*One CCF, or hundred cubic feet, is 748 gallons
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WATER RATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETINGS UNDER WAY
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A new 16-member citizens advisory committee that is studying MMWD's water rate structure held its first meeting in March and will meet monthly for the next several months before making a report to the MMWD Board of Directors.
The advisory committee has been asked to take a close look at the district's rate structure with the goals of securing a more consistent base revenue stream to fund district operations and of allocating costs fairly and accurately across all customer categories. The majority of MMWD customers are single-family residential customers. Other billing categories include duplexes, multi-family residential, commercial, institutional, and irrigation. The advisory committee members represent a wide variety of geographic areas and customer categories.
MMWD has had two previous rate advisory committees (2002 and 1993). In both cases the recommendations helped the district make adjustments to the rate structure to better reflect district policies and costs and to secure the revenue necessary to operate MMWD.
Background materials provided to the 2011 committee members are available online.
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MONITORING IN CALIFORNIA SHOWS NO DANGER FROM RADIATION RELEASES IN JAPAN
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MMWD has received inquiries from customers concerned about the possibility of radiation from Japan affecting local water supplies. MMWD has have been monitoring the situation closely and has been reviewing the data collected by the USEPA, the California Department of Public Health and the UC Berkeley Nuclear Engineering program. The testing being conducted by these organizations has shown little radiation transported to the Bay Area above background levels.
Of particular interest is the information from UC Berkeley of tap water sampling results. As one would expect, radioactive particles are filtered out by the water treatment process, and the results showed that radiation was not detectable, with the exception of one day. The detection on that one day was at a level 100 times less than the drinking water standard, which is based on the consumption of 2 liters of water per day for 70 years.
Refer to these links for more details:
http://www.epa.gov/rpdweb00/rert/radnet-sanfrancisco-bg.html
http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/Documents/CDPH-RHB-RadReport-2011-04-01.PDF
http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/UCBAirSampling
MMWD is taking water samples this week of the untreated water entering our treatment plants and of the treated water leaving them as part of our ongoing regulatory compliance monitoring. Those samples will be tested for alpha and beta activity, the latter being the type of radiation produced by radioisotopes of iodine and cesium, the main isotopes detected in monitoring. The half-life of these particles is on the order of days (iodine) or weeks (cesium). So, even if we found some radioactivity at minimal levels, it would not be cause for concern, given that our water supplies generally have no detectable radioactivity.
When we receive the test results in two weeks we will post them in the water quality section on our website (link).
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| MMWD DIRECTOR CYNTHIA KOEHLER RECEIVES MCL AWARD |
MMWD Director Cynthia Koehler, who represents Mill Valley, was recently presented with Marin Conservation League's 2011 Ted Wellman Water Award. Director Koehler received the award for her work as an advocate for ecosystem restoration in the Delta and for water conservation. Director Koehler is a senior attorney and California water legislative director with Environmental Defense Fund in San Francisco. The Ted Wellman Award was created to acknowledge the contributions of Marin residents who help protect and preserve water resources in Marin and California.
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| SPRING/SUMMER 2011 PIPELINE PROJECTS |
MMWD has several pipeline projects planned for this year's warm weather period. Some of these projects are already under way while others will be starting soon. Current projects are scheduled for the following communities: - Kent Woodlands;
- San Anselmo (Canyon Road and Scenic Avenue);
- Ross (Ivy Drive and Ames Avenue);
- San Rafael in Santa Venetia, Terra Linda, the Dominican area, lower Gerstle Park, and Mission Avenue underneath the freeway;
- Toyon and Belvedere avenues in Belvedere;
- Tiburon on Trestle Glen Blvd.;
- Miller Avenue and parts of Sycamore Park in Mill Valley.
MMWD and the various contractors plan to do much of the work over the summer to minimize traffic impacts.
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LAGUNTAS CREEK STEWARDSHIP PLAN TO BE PRESENTED TO MMWD BOARD IN MAY
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MMWD's draft Lagunitas Creek Stewardship Plan will be presented to MMWD's Board of Directors at the May 4 board meeting. The plan addresses actions to be taken by MMWD over the next ten years to manage the habitat of Lagunitas Creek for the benefit of the aquatic resource populations of coho salmon, steelhead trout and California freshwater shrimp. Lagunitas Creek begins on Mt. Tamalpais on land owned by MMWD. The creek and its tributaries feed into district reservoirs, which provide drinking water for 195,000 residents of Marin County. Downstream of the reservoirs, the creek is a spawning and rearing ground for coho salmon and steelhead trout, both of which are on the endangered species list. The creek is also habitat for endangered California freshwater shrimp. Lagunitas Creek supports one of the best populations of coho salmon, and probably the best population of freshwater shrimp, in California. In 1997 MMWD began a twelve-year, nearly $8 million creek enhancement effort under an agreement with the State of California to mitigate the impacts of MMWD's water diversions on the creek. The new plan, which will guide MMWD activities for the period 2011-2020, sets out a comprehensive strategy for continuing the district's enhancement efforts.
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| RECENT RULING ON DESAL EIR LAWSUIT FAVORS MMWD |
Marin County Superior Court Judge Lynn Duryee recently denied a request by plaintiffs challenging MMWD's desalination EIR (environmental impact report) to stay any further proceedings on the EIR. This request would have stopped any further work on desalination by MMWD, contrary to the intent of Measure S, which was passed overwhelmingly by MMWD voters in November of 2010. The plaintiffs alleged that voter approval of Measure S in November 2010 overturned MMWD's approval of its desalination project in August 2009. Although the district has no plans in the foreseeable future to move forward with a desalination project, the MMWD Board of Directors certified the desalination project EIR in February 2009 and approved the desalination project six months later. In 2010, petitioners filed a lawsuit challenging the validity of the EIR for the desalination project. Currently, MMWD has placed the desalination project on hold because water demand has dropped by 15 percent in the past three years. The trial date for the lawsuit on the writ petition is scheduled for June 28, 2011.
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| VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR MAY 14 ECO FRIENDLY GARDEN TOUR |
MMWD is seeking volunteers to greet visitors at one of the many participating gardens on the Fifth Annual Eco Friendly Garden Tour on Saturday, May 14. No prior experience with gardening or greeting is required--just a desire to help out and be inspired! Volunteers make this fun and informational event possible and are treated to an event t-shirt and two complimentary admission tickets (a $20 value) in exchange for 3½ hours in the morning or afternoon. Volunteer shifts are 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. or 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. To volunteer, contact Wendy at the Marin Municipal Water District at (415) 945-1521 or wmenara@marinwater.org. To view event information, click here. The Eco-Friendly Garden Tour is sponsored by Marin County Stormwater Pollution Prevention Program, Marin Municipal Water District, North Marin Water District, and the Marin Independent Journal.
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| NEW FROM THE MMWD BLOG |
Check out these recent blog posts:
- Spring is Mating Season for Many Creatures Read more
- Computer Upgrade Project Leads to Lasting Savings Read more
- The Gift of Annuals Read more
- Students Learn about Water and More at Lake Lagunitas Read more
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WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU
| We welcome your comments and need your help raising awareness about water in Marin. Please share this information with your members and constituents. Thank you!
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