Marin water district restricts new landscaping for development

The rules ban new developments from installing landscaping that uses drinking water supplies.

New development projects in most of Marin won’t have new landscaping irrigated with drinking water under drought restrictions imposed by Marin Municipal Water District this week.

The Board of Directors voted Tuesday to approve the ban aimed at preserving the district’s dwindling reservoir supplies in the Mount Tamalpais watershed amid severe drought conditions. The district estimates it could run out of reservoir supplies by next summer if the region experiences a similarly historic dry winter as last year and conservation efforts do not improve.

Based on pending developers’ applications for water service, the district estimates new development would add 42 acre-feet of new drinking water demand in the next year or about 0.1% of the district’s 2020 annual demand of 28,199 acre-feet. The new landscaping restrictions are estimated to reduce this new demand by 14 acre-feet or about 0.05% of the district’s 2020 demand.

Forecasting two years out, the district estimates new development would add 62 acre-feet of new demand to the system or about 0.2% of the district’s 2020 annual demand. Banning drinking water-reliant landscaping would save about 15 acre-feet of this amount, or again about 0.05% of the district’s annual demand.

The ordinance, which took effect on Wednesday, does include some exceptions. New landscaping that is watered using recycled water is still allowed. Also, if a development does not have access to recycled water, the developer can still install the landscaping as long as they agree not to water it using drinking water until the emergency drought order is lifted. However, this second exception will likely be removed in August after concerns were raised by Board President Cynthia Koehler.

“I think I’m not comfortable going forward with new landscaping that is destined to be irrigated with potable water supply,” Koehler said during the meeting.

Board member Larry Bragman supported Koehler’s proposal, calling it a “bold step” that would encourage greater use of recycled water and rainwater catchment.

Board members Larry Russell, Jack Gibson and Monty Schmitt also supported the change, but said that such a move would likely require more public notice under the Brown Act. The board plans to revisit the ordinance in August to remove this exception. Koehler abstained from the vote, stating that the board would be able to and should approve the rules immediately.

The landscaping restrictions may be the precursor for tighter restrictions on new developments. District staff is currently drafting an ordinance that could suspend most new water service hookups for developments including housing.

The district estimates that such a suspension would only save 0.1% of the district’s annual drinking water demand within the next year given the slate of projects that may be up for approval. Critics such as Fairfax resident and North Coast Rivers Alliance president Frank Egger dispute these numbers and have advocated for a complete suspension of all new water hookups. The current strategies, he said, are “insufficient to address the current water shortage.”

Larkspur resident James Holmes called the landscaping restrictions a “good start” but said the board must ultimately adopt a suspension on new water service hookups.

The landscaping rules are nearly identical to those approved by the district’s northern neighbor, the North Marin Water District, for its more than 60,000 Novato customers. Novato developments are allowed to proceed so long as the projects do not use any drinking water supplies to irrigate their landscaping.

Marin Municipal Water District will consider certain exceptions for projects already underway. One example cited at the board meeting was the ongoing landscaping changes at The Village at Corte Madera shopping center.

The project involves removing old, diseased trees and replacing them with drought-tolerant plants as well as replacing the overhead sprinkler system with a more efficient drip-irrigation system, said the center’s general manager, Stan Hoffman. The trees’ roots had also caused irrigation pipes to break.

All these changes are expected to reduce the center’s landscaping irrigation by as much as 50%, Hoffman said. The project is about three weeks away from completion.

“We are going to reduce our water consumption substantially and we are going to put in very efficient irrigation that was reviewed and approved by the water district including all of the plant materials,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman said the center will continue to comply with the district’s water restrictions. In the meantime, he said he is inquiring with local recycled water haulers about watering the shopping center’s landscaping.