Marin City slated for water pipeline overhaul

The Marin Municipal Water District is planning to replace several miles of leaking pipes in Marin City at an estimated cost of about $5.9 million.

The district will soon be reviewing bids for the first phase of the project, which officials say is needed to reduce water loss and improve the resilience of the area’s drinking water system.

“This is an underserved community,” said Jed Smith, a district board member, said during an operations committee meeting on Feb. 16. “We’re replacing 40% of their pipes, which is a massive, massive move for Marin City, but I think even more importantly this is the beginning of helping understand other issues that are going on in the community in regards to health and safety issues with water and others.”

The first phase of project has an estimated cost of $3.8 million. It would replace approximately 9,200 feet of a 65-year-old leak-prone cast-iron pipe with welded steel pipe on various streets. The work would take about 332 days to perform, with completion scheduled around Jan. 31, 2025.

The project also will replace 197 service laterals — piping owned by the Marin water district that connects the water main pipeline to the service meter and customer-owned pipes.

The first phase will replace pipelines around Drake Avenue, Waldo Court, Eureka Street, Pacheco Street, Dutton Court and parts of Phillips Drive and Cole Drive.

The second phase, projected to begin in January 2025 and end in November 2025, involves 2.9 miles of pipe in the areas of Burgess Court, Buckelew Street and Donahue Street.

Zak Talbott, an engineer with the district, said the project is partially funded by a $6.4 million grant from the state’s Department of Water Resources. The remainder is funded through the water district’s capital maintenance fund.

Smith said part of the funding will go toward community awareness. He said thousands of customers who have water meters should be contacted and made aware of how the quality of the pipe affects water and the meters.

“Even though that is not our responsibility, this will help understand what other underlying issues are in some of these old buildings that were built really as temporary housing, so I think we’re going above and beyond laying down this pipe and this contract,” Smith said.

Marin City Climate Resilience and Health Justice, a community organization, will work with the water district’s staff to inform residents about the project.

Ben Horenstein, general manager for the district, said the project is a chance to foster trust with Marin City.

“It’s really opportunistic in terms of the connections and ideally building relationships … in terms of understanding our water because there are historic issues there in terms of water quality and concerns that has led the community, it seems, to rely, disproportionately perhaps, on bottled drinking water,” Horenstein said.

Talbott said the agency has already received interest in the project. Bids are being accepted until March 5.

The district staff is expected to recommend a bidder at a board meeting in April.