Water Supply

Bon Tempe Reservoir view of Mt Tam

The journey from our reservoirs to your tap takes about 24 hours. Along the way, your water is tested, treated, and monitored to ensure you have the freshest, high-quality water delivered to your home. 

Established in 1912, we take pride in our history as the oldest municipal water district in California. With that distinction also comes the responsibility to invest in our future. Many of our pipes are more than 100 years old. Our Capital Improvement Program strategically replaces and updates our pipelines and facilities to improve reliability and the ability of our system to withstand earthquakes and other emergencies. 

Planning ahead is important so that we are ready and resilient, and able to supply water to our customers for generations to come.

If you would like to learn more about our water supply planning, refer to our Water Resources Plan 2040 and our 2015 Final Urban Water Management Plan.

Reservoir diversion data is available at the following links: Alpine, Bon Tempe, Kent, Lagunitas, Nicasio, Phoenix, and Soulajule.

Our climate is changing. The ability to successfully fight fires is an essential part of our future. Fire flow is the term firefighters use to describe how much water can be delivered by a water system through one or more hydrants to fight a fire at a specific location. To meet fire-flow standards, a water distribution system must deliver large amounts of water in a short period of time.

A first-ever master plan for making fire flow improvements began following voter approval in 1996. Voters agreed to pay an annual $75 fire flow fee on their property tax bills for 15 years to provide additional water flow for fighting fires and to help ensure the integrity of our water transmission system following a major earthquake.

In 2012 the Marin Water Board of Directors approved extending the $75 annual fire flow fee through 2031. The fee will fund water system improvements including replacing aging pipes and seismic stabilization/retrofits at pump stations and pipe bridges. For information regarding exemptions from the fire flow fee, click here. 

We've been working to implement this program with the help of fire officials, city managers, and public works directors. This team reports regularly to city and county elected officials.

In addition to improving our ability to fight fires, we also have an aggressive fire prevention program on the Mt. Tamalpais Watershed.

Recycled water is an important tool we can use to augment our water supply in the face of uncertain impacts of climate change. Recycled water preserves our drinking water supply and benefits the San Francisco Bay by reducing discharges of treated wastewater.

Marin Water currently provides recycled water to 330 customers in the Terra Linda area of San Rafael for a range of uses including: irrigation, industrial cooling, and toilet flushing. Marin Water was the first water supplier to use recycled water for non-agricultural purposes in Northern California. Since the early 1980s, Marin Water have pioneered the use of recycled water for car washes, air-conditioning cooling towers, commercial laundries and toilet flushing in a condominium complex. 

Recycled water is highly-treated wastewater that is safe for many purposes. Wastewater is treated at the Recycled Water Facility, a state of the art membrane treatment plant located at, and operated by, the Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District. Once treated, recycled water travels through separate pipelines to our customers.

Recycled water is continuously monitored and tested to ensure it is safe for non-potable use.