| MMWD Board of Directors |
Armando Quintero
President
Liza Crosse
Vice President
Jack Gibson
Cynthia Koehler
Larry Russell
Regular meetings of the MMWD Board of Directors are held at 7:30 pm the first and third Tuesday of each month unless otherwise noted in the District Board Room, 220 Nellen Avenue, Corte Madera. Additional meetings are scheduled as needed. All board meetings are open to the public.
(415) 945-1455
Krishna Kumar
General Manager
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Upcoming Public Meetings
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Tues., February 4, 7:30 pm
BOARD MEETING
Board Room
Tues., February 18, 7:30 pm
BOARD MEETING
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DRY WEATHER, DROUGHT CONDITIONS CONTINUE IN 2014
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The weather in 2013 was remarkable in its consistency. Regardless of the season, it was just plain dry--winter, spring, summer and fall. In fact, 2013 set a new record low for rainfall. The Mt. Tamalpais Watershed received just 10.68 inches of rain last year, far lower than the prior record of 19 inches set in 1929 and significantly lower than the annual average of 52 inches. Unfortunately, 2014 is bringing us more of the same so far. This January we received a barely measurable 0.01 inches of rain; average for the month is 10.86 inches. Drought conditions now prevail in Marin and throughout the state. On January 17 Governor Brown called on all Californians to voluntarily reduce their water use by 20 percent. On January 21 the MMWD Board of Directors took that request a step further, asking customers to voluntarily reduce their water use by 25 percent. Depending on total reservoir storage on April 1, that voluntary cutback will become mandatory. Unless a substantial amount of rainfall and runoff occurs between now and April 1, storage levels are projected to be below 40,000* acre-feet, the level that triggers the mandatory rationing. See our Drought 2014 Information page for more. *One acre-foot is 325,851 gallons
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CURRENT RESERVOIR LEVELS
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Here are the current water statistics:
- Reservoir Levels - As of January 31, reservoir storage is 42,127 acre-feet,* or 53 percent of capacity. The average for this date is 65,130 acre-feet, or 82 percent of capacity. Total capacity is 79,566 acre-feet.
- Rainfall - Rainfall this fiscal year to date (July 1-January 31) is 3.80 inches. Average for the same period is 29.87 inches.
- Water Use - Water use for the week of January 20-26 averaged 21.1 million gallons per day, compared to 16.8 million gallons per day for the same week last year.
- Creek Releases - During the month of December 2013 MMWD released 439 million gallons, or a total of 1,346 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 agreements with the State of California.
Water use and reservoir figures can be found on the homepage of our website.
*One acre-foot is 325,851 gallons.
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PLEASE CONSERVE; EARLY ADOPTERS WILL NOT BE PENALIZED
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MMWD encourages all water users to voluntarily cut their water usage by 25 percent immediately to help preserve our existing supply. Any mandatory rationing plan will be based on water consumption prior to 2014, so cutting back now will not result in any kind of penalty should mandatory rationing be enacted on April 1. Rationing baselines will most likely be based on an average of several years' use. MMWD is in the process of finalizing the specifics of a rationing plan. The district's goals are to create a plan that is fair to the extent possible, understandable, practical to administer and attains the level of water savings needed.
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NEED SOME CONSERVATION TIPS? THESE WILL HELP YOU GET STARTED
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Here are MMWD's top three recommendations for reducing consumption: - Turn off your irrigation system and water plants only as needed.
- Fix dripping faucets, running toilets and other leaks. Based on the experience of MMWD's conservation staff working in the field, about one third of homes have undetected water leaks. See our instructions on how to use your water meter to help you find those leaks.
- Replace your high-water-use toilets, clothes washers and irrigation controllers with new water-efficient models and get a rebate from MMWD.
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NEW WEBSITE COMING IN FEBRUARY
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MMWD will soon unveil a new website to better suit the needs of our customers and partners. The URL, marinwater.org, stays the same, so you won't have to do anything differently to find us. But we hope you will find our new website to be more intuitive and user friendly.
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REGISTER NOW FOR NBWA 2014 CONFERENCE ON FRIDAY, APRIL 11
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The North Bay Watershed Association is holding its biennial conference on Friday, April 11, 2014 at the Stone Tree Golf Club in Novato. The theme is, "Water Resources Management: What, Where and How." Keynote speakers include U.S. Representative Jared Huffman, California Department of Water Resources Director Mark Cowin and State Water Resources Control Board Chair Felicia Marcus. Water supply, integrated projects, and project funding are the panel discussion topics. Leaders in government, business, science and environmental organizations are encouraged to attend. Registration is $95 per person. The conference is from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, with a wine tasting for the last hour. Registration also includes a continental breakfast and lunch. For more information visit the NBWA website conference page.
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NEW BLOG POSTS
| Check out these recent posts from MMWD's blog, Think Blue Marin:
- Trees are your property's most valuable asset and you'll want to keep them healthy during this drought year. We have tips on watering trees and pruning them in a drought.
- Numbers remain muted according to the January 2014 Lagunitas Creek spawner update available here.
- Need more conservation ideas? Here are our top 10 ways to save water.
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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 colleagues and constituents. Thank you.
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