Marin Water Among State’s Efficiency Leaders: Report

MARIN COUNTY, CA — As California faces ongoing uncertainty about future water supplies, Marin has emerged as one of the state’s conservation leaders, The Los Angeles Times reports.

The Marin Municipal Water District, which serves more than 190,000 residents in southern and central Marin, has cut water use by 28.5 percent over the last year, by far the most among those listed in the report.

The report describes a tail of two states; one in the North in which water districts with low reserves are doing more to cut water use, and the other in the South, which had healthier reserves at this time a year ago but are doing less to conserve.

The North Coast and San Francisco regions have cut water usage by 14.5 percent and 10.5 percent, respectively.

In Southern California, water use fell just 4.6 percent over the same period, the report said.

Marin Water earlier this month lifted some restrictions as it declared an end to the district’s drought emergency.

Local reservoirs are at 90 percent of capacity in large part due to record rainfall in October and December, the agency said.

Last spring, persistent warm, dry weather lowered Marin Water's reservoir storage capacity to 52 percent —its lowest level in nearly 40 years.

Much of the West Coast, including nearly all of California, is experiencing what climate experts call an ongoing "megadrought."

Marin along with 95.2 percent of the state were in what the U.S. Drought Monitor classifies as a severe drought or worse.

According to the agency’s most recent data 40.5 percent of California is experiencing severe drought and 100 percent of the state is in a moderate drought.

California has failed to meet the 15 percent conservation goal Gov. Gavin Newsom set last year, a worrisome sign considering the state's iffy water supply outlook, Heather Cooley, who heads an Oakland water policy think tank, told The Times.

“Even during the last drought, when Gov. Brown asked for voluntary cuts, we didn’t meet those,” said Cooley, who serves as director of research at the Pacific Institute.

“We really need to go toward the mandatory. It really does send a signal that we are all in this together, and that everyone needs to be doing their part.”

Read more in The Los Angeles Times