Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a drought emergency for Marin County on Thursday, opening the door for potential resources and special allowances for local agencies to respond to the historic dry conditions.
“I think it’s important the state has now recognized the very dire situation that the county finds itself in like so much of the rest of the state,” said Cynthia Koehler, board president of the Marin Municipal Water District. “I think it sends an even more clear message than we had before, and we’re really looking forward to partnering with Gov. Newsom and his administration.”
While it is unclear what kind of resources or financial aid Marin could receive under the designation, it does allow for special considerations to be made for options such as a temporary reduction in dam water releases into Lagunitas Creek that benefit endangered fish. The Marin Municipal Water District, which serves 191,000 residents in central and southern Marin, is studying this option to stretch out the supplies of its shrinking reservoirs, which could be depleted by next summer if dry conditions persist.
Newsom’s drought emergency declaration — the third since April — now applies to 50 of the 58 counties in the state. Marin was one of nine counties added on Thursday, along with Inyo, Mono, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz.
Similar to the two previous declarations, Newsom directed state water agencies to expedite water transfers between suppliers, approve funds to protect water supplies, consider requests to temporarily reduce reservoir releases for wildlife and potentially curtail stream and creek diversions by water rights holders, among other charges.
Drew McIntyre, general manager of the North Marin Water District, said the declaration could allow the district to temporarily reduce its Stafford Lake water releases that benefit fish in Novato Creek. Also, the state might consider loosening regulations on uses for recycled water such as allowing dairies to used recycled water to clean stalls, he said.
Besides the financial and procedural benefits, Newsom’s declaration reinforces the message for residents to take the drought as seriously as possible, said longtime Marin Municipal Water District board director Jack Gibson. After Newsom did not include Marin in his larger 39-county drought proclamation in May, Gibson expressed concern that the omission would counter the district’s calls for mandatory water conservation.
“We need the governor out there stepping up and saying it,” Gibson said. “That’s what captures the headline.”
McIntyre said it makes sense to include Marin in the declaration, considering its reliance on water from Sonoma and Mendocino counties, both of which were included in Newsom’s original drought declaration in April.
“It’s important that the messaging that we send to our customers is consistent with that of our neighboring counties and that is that in this region we’re all in emergency drought conditions,” McIntyre said.
Marin was not included in Newsom’s first two declarations in part because the county Board of Supervisors had not declared a local drought emergency. The county had also not requested any alterations to water rights or flow releases that would require emergency action by the state. The Board of Supervisors voted soon after to declare a local drought emergency.
The Marin Municipal Water District forecasts that its seven reservoirs in the Mount Tamalpais watershed could be depleted by August 2022 should the region experience a similarly dry winter as 2020-21 and if conservation efforts do not significantly increase. In preparation for this worst-case scenario, the district is exploring emergency projects such as a water pipeline over the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge to pump in Central Valley water and a temporary destination plant on San Francisco Bay. The county built a pipeline across the bridge in 1977 during a similar drought to prevent the county from running out of water.
Meanwhile, the Sonoma Water agency — which supplies 75% of North Marin’s water and 25% of Marin Municipal Water District’s water — made a 20% reduction to its water imports on July 1 in response to its own supply concerns.
The district was the first major water supplier in the Bay Area to declare a drought emergency and adopt mandatory water use restrictions. The last 18 months have been the driest in the district’s nearly 143 years of records.
The North Marin Water District, which serves about 64,000 residents in Novato and parts of West Marin, has also adopted mandatory restrictions in response to its lowest rainfall on records dating back to 1916. The town of Bolinas might soon be under mandatory water rationing of 125 gallons per day per household.
In addition to the emergency declaration, Newsom also approved an order calling for 15% water conservation statewide among residents, businesses, government agencies and industries. The state had previously required mandatory conservation among various communities during the 2012-17 drought.
The conservation mindset during that time has endured, resulting in a 16% reduction in residential water demand since the last drought, Newsom said during a press conference in San Luis Obispo on Thursday.
“This gives us an advantage over the last drought,” Newsom said.
