Marin Water Grand Jury Response: A Legal Requirement and a Public Service
The Marin County Grand Jury is formed each year by a three step process: an accepted application, an interview with two former jurors and a random drawing in the courtroom. To be eligible, jurors must be a “U.S. citizen, 18 years of age or older, who has been a resident of the County for one year…of intelligence and good character, with a working knowledge of the English language”.
During its 2022 term, the Marin Grand Jury issued six reports, each of which includes Findings and Recommendations. California law requires a Response by any agency named in the report within 90 days. Hence, the process is not over until the required response is submitted and considered.
The Grand Jury report, “A Roadmap for Water Resilience”, was published on June 13, 2022 and Marin Water’s response was submitted on September 8th. The substance of Marin Water's response, while agreeing with a number of its Findings and Recommendations, pointed out a significant number of substantive errors and factual omissions in the report. https://www.marinwater.org/node/975
For example, two major water supply improvements were not included in the report released to the public and amplified in later media reports. These efforts included rehabilitation of our Kastania pumps in Sonoma County which increased the flow of our supply of Russian River water by up to 10,000 acre feet per year and our newly constructed recycled water plant at Las Gallinas that has increased its capacity by over 4,000 additional acre feet. At full yearly production, these two projects provide a portfolio of new water supplies larger than the combined capacity of Bon Tempe Reservoir and Alpine Lake. And both the Kastania and Las Gallinas projects were completed long before the Grand Jury posted its report.
The Grand Jury report also asserted that Marin Water should move forward with direct potable reuse of wastewater. This finding ignores the fact that direct potable reuse of wastewater is legally prohibited under current California regulations. Elsewhere, the report criticizes the District for ‘hastily’ pursuing a pipeline over the Richmond Bridge while later recommending that the district construct such a pipeline. The report again fails to mention that the district had already begun the required environmental review process in order to determine what steps need to be undertaken to pursue such a project--again well before the report was published.
In addition to their Findings, the Grand Jury process also makes Recommendations. In this case, the Grand Jury made 7 recommendations. Perhaps the least publicized fact has been that most of the Recommendations have already been implemented by Marin Water: We have already conservatively increased supply by almost 10,000 out of the recommended 10 - 15,000 acre feet; we are already in the final phase of completing our Strategic Water Supply Assessment to chart a roadmap to resilience; our supply assessment is already examining the feasibility of "drought proof" supply options; and we are already continuing to work to strengthen our regional partnerships with Sonoma and elsewhere as exemplified by the Kastania project which involved the collaboration of both the Sonoma and North Marin water agencies.
Right now, Marin's water local reservoir supplies are at 106% of normal while the rest of the State is in severe drought. We are the only Bay Area water agency which is not currently requiring water use restrictions. Marin Water Directors and staff understand that this respite does not assure our water security and are in the midst of a public and transparent Strategic Water Supply assessment that will consider the feasibility of all options.
Climate change presents enormous challenges that require access to thorough and accurate information. Both the Grand Jury report--and Marin Water's measured response--are an integral part of that process and stand as a public service to the community we both serve.
