Marin board winning desalination vote

All four members of the Marin Municipal Water District board who were up for election appear to have been returned by voters, leaving the California county’s cautious push towards desalination intact. A small proportion of votes have still to be counted.

The county’s voters seem also to have rejected the proposition put by opponents of desalination that a vote be required before any permitting, engineering and design work. The board’s counter proposal only required a vote prior to construction.

The MMWD board voted in February 2009 to accept an environmental impact report on a possible desalination plant (see D&WR technical article August/September 2008). A 5 MGD (19,000 m³/d) desalination plant would cost US$ 105 million to build. It would be expandable to 15 MGD (57,000 m³/d).