The Marin Municipal Water District (MMWD) is moving forward with a plan to pipe water across San Francisco Bay to make up for harsh drought conditions in its region. The proposed five to six-mile-long pipeline would run across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, carrying 10 to 15 million gallons of water a day, which the district says would help refill reservoirs that supply about 75% of its water.
The district plans to purchase water from Central Valley for $10 million to $18 million and have it supplied through the East Bay Municipal Utility District, which neighbors MMWD to the east. “We would procure the water and get it to EBMUD for treatment and it would send water over to us to match what we purchase from the Central Valley,” says Larry Russell, vice president of Marin Water's board of directors. “The idea is to offset the lack of rain that has occurred in our watershed.”