the bay, but I don’t know, I question that. So, there’s issues with that. We don’t know if the water’s going to be healthy, but it’s the energy costs, which are unbelievably high. I think once we see a cheap energy source of some sort, I figure we’ll see more desal plants built on the coast, because that’s where the water is... The water is colder and harder to treat from the ocean, whereas the bay is warmer and those few degrees seem to make a big difference. There are arguments for and against and there’s a group that says you ought to build more reservoirs, a group that says everybody ought to just reduce their water usage. When I give talks, I say one of the things we ought to eliminate in this state is all lawns. We don’t need them. It’s an Eastern attitude. Back East they get rain... all year long, so they have green grass. What about the Russian River and the water we get from there... Actually, Marin Municipal gets 25 percent of its water from the Russian River and North Marin gets 80 percent [from there]. So it’s a lot of water. Here again, it’s working with all the contractors [who get] water from the Sonoma County Water Agency and if they would all work together, they could manage that whole system... But you’ve got six, seven, eight contractors that feed off that system; you also have the whole fishery issue up there. During the infamous drought, there was a plan for a pipeline on the Richmond Bridge to bring water from the East Bay. What happened to that? Oh! [laughs] Well, I had it worked out with the Metropolitan Water District in Southern California to borrow water resources from East Bay Municipal Utility District in Alameda [so that] if the district ever needed to, we could tap into that system. The [water district] board at that time said... we don’t need to worry about that now. Then I left in 1980, and they... sold the pipe. It all went down the toilet, so to speak and it just disappeared and was actually sold to someone else for their pipeline. I also had at the same time, in 1980, 5,000 acre-feet of water from Lake Sonoma that we could have gotten for $1 an acre-foot and held it, forever. The board said we don’t need to do that, we can always get it some other time. That was so shortly after the drought. Seems shortsighted. Well, this is a democracy and politics are part [of it]. Yet again... A reader has contacted
Lake Lagunitas is the oldest lake in the Mt. Tam watershed—it was built in 1873.
us about water issues, specifically, he’s wondering why the district doesn’t pipe water from one reservoir down to a lower reservoir; aren’t we losing too much water to runoff if we don’t? People have said that we ought to deepen the reservoirs... but you don’t gain that much during a dry period because you only get so much rainfall. They say, so when you do get a lot of rain you could hold it. That’s been studied; you gain a little, but not much. Marin Municipal works very heavily at “conjunctive use” between all the reservoirs.... [And] one lake won’t get more rainfall than another. Soulajoule actually does, they can use that water during a drought period, they can pump from there up through a tunnel and drop it down into Nicasio Reservoir and take it for drinking water. [MMWD has begun work on getting more water from its reservoirs. Two new pumps that will access more water are now in place in Alpine Lake. More reservoir rehab is in the offing.] We recently had an article that referred to San Quentin, and it made me wonder, does the water district supply San Quentin? Yes, one of the biggest water users. That’s what I wondered. Do they conserve? Well, it was so funny during the ’76-’77
drought. The cons took it upon themselves— because the showers were turned on in the morning then turned off at night—they turned the showers off during the day.... Instead of watering all that ice plant that’s around San Quentin with fresh water, they were using saltwater. So, what could be done [now] very simply is to retrofit with low-flow toilets, showerheads, etc. That would save a lot of water. But during the drought they were very instrumental in helping. Are we more aware of climate change because we notice the changes in the weather... No question in my mind that Marin County, North Bay people really do notice. In the Central Valley? I doubt it. Southern California, they may somewhat. This whole weather thing... it’s like this year we get all this rain and everybody says oh boy, oh boy, the reservoirs are full and in great shape... If this La Nina takes hold, and it looks like it might, we don’t get a lot more rain in February, March, April, people start using water more aggressively, then we’re back in the same place we were before. Now what does that really mean to the average person, whether they’re worrying that their house might be under water ... I don’t know. People talk about it, but what are they doing about it? Nothing. You can’t do anything about it This weather stuff is really interesting. In
’76 the board asked should we cloud-seed [human manipulation of cloud condensation to cause precipitation] and get more rain that way? I said, let’s think about this: so much rain drops on the west side of Mt. Tam and only drops on the east side. So if we seed a cloud coming across, what would happen if it didn’t go where we wanted it, it went to Novato or up to Napa and dumped all its water. So, it was decided it wasn’t a good idea. How else have things changed? Marin Municipal and North Marin are really getting into reclaimed wastewater. MMWD is talking about taking a line clear over to Peacock Gap golf course; they already serve McInnis Park and a lot of the highway stuff and in Lucas Valley. North Marin has a whole system [for reclaimed wastewater] at Valley Memorial Park Cemetery, Fireman’s Fund. That’s going to make a big difference. What about individuals doing rainwater catchment? There again, getting back to the districts. Each one—at least North Marin does—has a rainwater system by which they show you how to build and use it. There are rebate programs...there are all kinds of programs to help people. ✹ Rain on Carol’s parade at cinkellis@pacificsun.com Comment on this story at
›› pacificsun.com FEBRUARY 4 - FEBRUARY 10, 2011 PACIFIC SUN 13
JOEL GINGOLD
FLOWING GREEN