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Corte Madera, CA July 2011
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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., Aug. 3, 7:30 pm
BOARD MEETING
Wed., Aug. 17, 7:30 pm
BOARD MEETING
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IT'S ALL ABOUT THE WATER
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Rainfall
With the start of a new rainfall year on July 1, 2011, we are now back to zero inches of rain for the year to date. We typically don't receive any measurable rainfall until October, and sometimes not until November, but rainfall this calendar year has been far from typical, so we'll have to wait and see what fall 2011 has in store for us.
Reservoir Levels
As of July 24, reservoir levels were 93 percent of capacity, or 73,683 acre-feet.* These levels are much higher than the average for that date of 78 percent, or 61,709 acre-feet.
Water Use
Water use has been on the low side this summer. Last week's consumption averaged 30.5 million gallons, which translates into a per capita figure of 160.6 gallons. Per capita consumption for the same week in 2010 was 173.1 gallons.
Creek Releases
For the month of June we released 171 million gallons, or a total of 525 acre-feet, into Lagunitas and Walker creeks in west Marin. We release water throughout the year to maintain adequate flows for the fishery per our agreement with the State of California.
Current rainfall and reservoir figures can be found on the homepage of our website.
*One acre-foot is 325,851 gallons.
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CROSS MARIN TRAIL CLOSED FOR ROAD WORK
| As of July 18 MMWD and Samuel P. Taylor State Park closed the Cross Marin Trail weekdays from 7 am to 3 pm for approximately six weeks for a grant-funded water quality and habitat improvement project. The project will complement other work being carried out in the Lagunitas Creek watershed for the benefit of endangered coho salmon, steelhead trout and freshwater shrimp in Lagunitas Creek.
The project involves the following road drainage improvements:
- Installation of armored crossings designed to handle 100-year storm events;
- Installation of wooden "puncheons" at intermittent crossings;
- Construction of "rolling dips" to prevent catastrophic road failures;
- Revegetation and erosion control at all construction sites.
Click here to see a map of the work areas.
MMWD received $534,235 in grant funds from the State Water Resources Control Board under the federal Clean Water Act for this work, part of a larger project designed to save an estimated 5,400 cubic yards of road-related sediment from eroding into Lagunitas Creek. Last year MMWD carried out similar work on roads in the Cheda Creek and McIsaac Creek watersheds as part of the project.
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WATER RATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE DELVES INTO TOPIC OF WATER RATE MODELING
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The MMWD Water Rate Advisory Committee, a citizens' committee formed earlier this year, spent both the June and July meetings discussing water rate modeling concepts. The committee also received a presentation from independent consultant Black & Veatch on a cost-of-service study conducted by the consultant for MMWD. The study details Black & Veatch's analysis of MMWD's rate structure and how costs are spread among the various customer categories.
MMWD created the citizens' committee to provide recommendations to the board on possible changes to the current rate structure, which has been in place since 2003. The current rate structure has a basic meter charge for all customers and a water use charge with four inclining tiers based on water use. While most of MMWD's customers are single-family residential, the district also has multi-family residential, commercial, institutional and irrigation-only accounts. Each category has a slightly different rate structure.
The district's goal for any new rate structure is one that secures a more consistent base revenue stream for the district and allocates costs fairly and accurately across all customer categories.
The citizens' committee will continue to meet monthly for the next few months before a rate structure recommendation to the MMWD Board of Directors. Once the committee formulates its recommendation, MMWD will share it with the community at large.
The committee's next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, August 24 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm and is open to the public. It will be held in the MMWD Board Room, 220 Nellen Avenue, Corte Madera.
Background materials provided to the committee are available online.
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MMWD BOARD ADOPTS NEW URBAN WATER MANAGEMENT PLAN
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The MMWD Board of Directors held a public hearing on July 6 to receive comments from the public on the district's 2010 Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP). At the close of the hearing the board voted to approve the plan. MMWD developed the UWMP in compliance with the California Urban Water Management Planning Act, which requires such a plan every five years from urban water suppliers with 3,000 or more service connections or supplying 3,000 or more acre-feet* of water per year. The plan covers the following topics:
- Existing water supplies and transmission system;
- Projected water demands in MMWD's service area over the next 25 years;
- Projected water supplies available to MMWD over the next 25 years, the reliability of that supply, and general plans for water supply projects;
- Current and planned water conservation activities;
- A water shortage contingency analysis;
- A comparison of water supply and water demand over the next 25 years under different hydrological assumptions (normal year, single dry year, multiple dry years).
*One acre-foot is 325,851 gallons.
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CELEBRATING MMWD'S CENTENNIAL IN 2012
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On April 25, 1912, Marin Municipal Water District received its charter from the Secretary of State, making it California's first municipal water district. We are already looking forward to 2012 when we will mark the 100th anniversary of MMWD's formation. Our centennial preparations are under way and include both a look at the past and the present. We have historical photographs and memorabilia to share, and we want to highlight the founders who envisioned a publicly run consolidated water company for Marin as well as the people who keep the water running today. Looking ahead, we promise to continue to fulfill our mission, which is to manage our natural resources in a sustainable manner and to provide our customers with reliable, high-quality water at a reasonable price.
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| NEW FROM THE MMWD BLOG |
Check out these recent blog posts:
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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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