Marin Municipal Water District in California will have to seek the permission of consumers to proceed any further with its investigations into the possibility of desalination, if a ballot later this year is successful.
Environmental lobby group Food & Water Watch (FWW) announced on 3 June 2010 that it had delivered 17,000 signatures to the county registrar’s office supporting what it calls the Marin Responsibility Initiative. This would create a local ordinance halting planning and construction of the 5-15 MGD (19,000-57,000 m³/d) seawater reverse osmosis plant being examined by the water district as one way to solve its future supply deficit.
The number of signatures well exceeded the minimum required to force a ballot.
FFW, which previously produced reports criticising the Carlsbad desalination project, says the San Francisco Bay plant proposed for Marin would pollute the bay, harm wildlife and encourage suburban sprawl.