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Marin water report: Real solutions or false promises?

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 15, 2009 at 7:04 am

From the Marin Independent Journal, this commentary by Richard Rubin:

JUST AS the MMWD shows promise of firmly grappling with the county’s murky water future, up pops a report misnamed, “Sustaining our Water Future,” whose principal aim is to debunk desalination in favor of conservation-only solutions.

The authors are a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, few have ever heard of, known as the Food & Water Watch. It turns out this is a Ralph Nader-spinoff funded specifically to preach the virtues of conservation as the sole means of ensuring water supply and has targeted places such as Marin which are flirting with desalination.

The problem is not merely the disinformation, misconceptions and inadequate cost/benefits analysis, but its ability to fuel the flames of those who have almost a visceral reaction at the mere mention of the word desalination. Hopefully it is but a momentary distraction for a water board sometimes swept under by the currents of questionable public opposition.

Let’s try to dispose of several of the report’s very radical solutions: It is suggested that landscape watering be scaled back 40 percent. The district has already set an ambitious goal to curtail overall water use by an additional 10 percent to 15 percent – and this in a county which has adopted very aggressive conservation measures over many years.

What the report fails to point out are the costs of achieving such self-imposed rationing through recommended rain water catchments and more cisterns, which on a dollars-per-gallon basis would be three times the cost of desalination, according to district General Manager, Paul Helliker.

Read more of Richard’s commentary by clicking here.

June 15, 2009 · Filed Under Marin desalination plant

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