Politics & Government

Desalination at heart of November election

Two competing desalination measures collide

The two sides in the bitter battle over desalination in Marin will face off with competing ballot measures in November's election, as the Marin Municipal Water District board voted two weeks ago to put its own desalination measure on the ballot.

Coupled with the Marin Responsible Water Policy Ballot Initiative, which was put forth by opponents of desalination and qualified for the ballot in June behind more than 18,000 petition signatures, two ballot measures with seemingly similar intentions are on a collision course for Nov. 2.

Both measures ask voters to decide if they should have the right to vote on desalination, but they do so to different degrees. The board could have given voters the right to decide on desalination by passing the Marin Responsible Water Policy's initiative as an ordinance at a meeting, but declined to do so, saying that its language restricts the district's ability to explore its options.

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As the ongoing standoff has reached a crescendo, Fairfax and San Anselmo residents are prominent on both sides of the battle.

The Marin Conservation League, whose board includes members from both towns, backed the district's measure. Its opponents, the Marin Water Coalition, include several Fairfax residents. Former Councilman Frank Egger is filing papers today, Aug. 6, to run for election the water board based heavily on the desalination issue.

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Desalination, a process in which excess salt and minerals are removed from bay water to convert it to fresh water, likely will be front and center between now and November. The district's plan calls for using reverse osmosis technology to turn San Rafael Bay water into drinkable water, providing a potential drought-proof water supply. Opponents say it is unnecessary given the district's current water supply and would be costly and damaging to the environment.

Marin Conservation League President Nona Dennis said the league did not support desalination now, but suggested that technological improvements in the years ahead could change that. She said the league treats the issue of desalination and the public's right to vote on it as separate issues.

"A lot of people who are really adamantly opposed to desalination have used the citizen's initiative to kill it right now," she said. "[The measure] effectively cuts off any opportunity for the district to continue even talking about it. We feel that the public should have a right to vote, but that it should be played as a trump card, not to end the discussion."

But Egger and others have argued that the water district never intends to actually put the issue of desalination to the voters and that the district's board's initiative is merely a smokescreen.

Whichever measure gets more votes will become law as long as it gets more than 50 percent of the vote. But it is unclear how long it will be before desalination would even be ready to go to voters.

The district board voted 4-0 last August to proceed with the plan, but suspended it in April so that its staff could analyze declining water demand in Marin. Water demand continues to decline. The results of that analysis, expected to be ready in early 2011, will dictate the future of the district's desalination plans. Depending on the success of the competing ballot measures in November, the voters could take it from there.

Check back later today for an update on the candidates running for the two local water district board seats this November.


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