The ability to deliver clean, reliable water to 191,000 central and southern Marin County residents is our top priority. Nowhere is that mission more evident than in the work the District does to care for the Mount Tamalpais Watershed where we source more than half of our water for our customers.
Through detailed planning, comprehensive training and robust vegetation management and forest restoration efforts, Marin Water works year-round to minimize the impacts of potential wildfires and maximize ecological health on our watershed lands – all of which help to protect water quality, our water delivery infrastructure and the community.
Guided by the District’s Biodiversity, Fire and Fuels Integrated Plan, which was adopted in 2019, the District continues to implement critical vegetation management activities, which not only reduce the risk of intense wildfire activity, but also serve to enhance the Mount Tamalpais Watershed ecosystem by removing invasive plant species. The District does not use pesticides, instead employing a variety of tools, such as hand crews, goats, and prescribed fire to preserve defensible space, reduce invasive species and enhance biodiversity.
For more detail on this important work, please visit marinwater.org/WatershedResiliency.
Mt. Tam Watershed Key to Water Quality, Delivery
Marin Water provides safe, reliable, local drinking water to 191,000 community members spanning 10 towns and cities in a 147-square-mile section of central and southern Marin County. And 75% of that water is sourced from the Mount Tamalpais Watershed and the hills of west Marin. Maintaining a healthy watershed, and pristine reservoirs is the foundation of Marin Water’s ability to deliver fresh drinking water daily to our customers.
Project Description
In October of 2019, the District adopted the Biodiversity, Fire, and Fuels Integrated Plan (BFFIP) which describes the actions the District will implement to reduce wildfire hazards and to maintain and enhance ecosystem function. The plan outlines 27 actions that support restoration of forest health, conserving valuable habitat, improving wildfire resilience and increasing understanding of forest ecosystems.
Benefits
Vegetation management under the BFFIP aims to reduce hazardous fuel loads, restore forests, maintain fuelbreak infrastructure, preserve defensible space, reintroduce prescribed fire, reduce invasive weed species and enhance biodiversity.
Expenditures and Funding Sources
The District budgets for this important work in five-year increments. Marin Water plans to spend about $9.8 million on fire and fuels management work from 2025-2030, not including annual ongoing operations funding. Additionally, the District has received $4 million in grant funding from Cal Fire and the California Coastal Conservancy to supplement this watershed resiliency work.