MMWD seals agreement for pipeline project

The Marin Municipal Water District is entering a $2.65 million deal with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to advance a major drought resiliency project.

The water district board voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the partnership agreement, charging the Army Corps to support the "atmospheric river capture" project.

The project is a proposed pipeline that would replenish Marin reservoirs with Sonoma County rainwater during droughts.

Under the agreement, the Army Corps will design a section of the pipeline that is 18,000 feet long. The agreement is a necessary step for the district to use federal funding from the 2022 Water Resources Development Act, or WRDA, slated for the project.

WRDA authorized $28 million for Marin Municipal Water District infrastructure, but the money still has to be appropriated, and earmarks through the annual energy and water appropriations process are the only politically viable means of doing so.

The first $2 million installment was delivered to the district this year at the request of Rep. Jared Huffman, a Democrat from San Rafael.

In addition to that money, the contract with the Army Corps includes $658,333 of Marin Municipal Water District funds.

"What I think is important about this action is that there are others, at different levels of government, that value what we're doing and also recognize the importance of this project, how critical it is to Marin Water, but also a benefit to the entire region," said Matt Samson, a board member. "It makes me feel real good about the choice we made" to advance the pipeline project.

Board member Ranjiv Khush agreed.

"I think it speaks a lot to the direction that we're taking with the ARC project and the direction we're taking towards regional resiliency," Khush said, referring to atmospheric river capture.

Shaun Horne, director of watershed resources, said officials at the Marin Municipal Water District and the Sonoma County Water Agency have been notified of a new Water Resources Development Act bill, and the two districts could be sharing a $60 million award.

"So we're in conversation with Sonoma Water about what that looks like for Marin, and we'll be tracking that as it makes it through the process," Horne said.

Estimated at $214 million, the planned 13-mile, 36-inch pipe would tap into an aqueduct system that runs along Highway 101, carrying water from the Russian River into Marin.

The pipe would follow San Marin Drive west, take a right turn at Novato Boulevard, pass Stafford Lake and turn left at Point Reyes-Petaluma Road to the Nicasio Reservoir.

The project is designed to capture rainwater during droughts to replenish the reservoir with up to about 3,800 acre-feet of water a year. An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons.

As proposed, the connection point would be near Highway 101 at San Marin Drive in Novato.

In December, the district signed an agreement to purchase a 4.5-acre property on Wood Hollow Drive at Redwood Boulevard for the pump station.

The site was set to become an 87-room hotel, but that project was delayed by the pandemic and then never built, according to a city staff report.

The $4.8 million deal is contingent upon clearance of the environmental impact report, an analysis mandated under the California Environmental Quality Act that is now underway.

A second pump station is planned near Stafford Lake. If constructed, it could open the door for a future phase of the pipeline that could increase replenishment of stored water to up to 8,100 acre-feet, staff said.

The district plans to release the project draft environmental impact report this fall.

At the meeting Tuesday, the district also offered a more detailed explanation of how the pipeline would be used.

District staff said they are continuously presented with questions from the public to explain how Sonoma will have enough water during a drought to aid Marin.

Staff examined three historical dry periods on record, including the 2021 drought, and dry periods in 2014 and in the 1980s. The analysis determined there was adequate supply in the Russian River in each instance to move water into Marin's storage system and improve overall drought resilience.

Board president Jed Smith said the more he sees presentations on the project, the more he views it as "insurance." He said that in the 1970s when a pipeline was constructed across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge to carry East Bay water into Marin, it was such an emergency that officials went to President Jimmy Carter for help. It's a situation that could be avoided if the atmospheric river capture project is completed, he said.

Phil Sotter, a Woodacre resident, told the board that the presentations on the project are encouraging, but asked officials not to let other water supply efforts fall to the wayside. He said the district should continue exploring conservation, recycled water and other options for resiliency.

"This request to broaden our water supply portfolio beyond primarily ARC is not an either/or request, but rather a way to ensure that we explore and develop a number of viable options," Sotter said. "I think this will help the odds of success in increasing potable water supply."

Larry Minikes, a board member of the Marin Conservation League, said, "The environmental impact report should carefully evaluate whether this is the only option and the most effective and cost-efficient solution available."

"Before committing hundreds of millions of dollars over the coming years," he said, "I respectfully encourage the board to request a comprehensive alternatives comparison so that both the board and the public can fully understand the relative costs, benefits and the risks of the available options."

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