Residents in Pt. Reyes Station in West Marin County now have to stock up on potable water outside their home as tap water has become too salty for consumption.
The tap water is no longer suitable for drinking or cooking because of the high levels of salt, according to reporting by KPIX. To the around 1,800 residents living in the area, this means going out to fill up at stations.
One such resident, Ella Vonins, can't consume too much salt for her health and fills up at a freshwater station that the North Marin Water District set up on Tuesday. "It's nasty," she told KPIX. "I mean, if you've tasted the saline content from last year you’d know that you can't just drink that water."
It's plagued residents for at least the past year and stems from two wells at the former Coast Guard Station suffering increased tidal flows from the sea.
According to the district's Water Quality Supervisor Pablo Ramudo, diminishing flows from freshwater sources and rising sea levels are causing the problem.
"Over the decades and years we’ve seen salinity intrusion worsen," Ramudo told the station. "And in the last five years, it’s been 50-60% worse than the year before, for several consecutive years."
The water's sodium levels have gone up 20 times in the last five years. A potential solution could be another more elevated well at another site. The district would use that, and then drill another one if the salt levels increase.
But one resident is standing in the way.
Ken Levin, President of the Pt. Reyes Village Association told KPIX that this resident keeps appealing the plan. "The appeal's been denied three times already and the person who’s appealing is going for a fourth try," he said. "I thought it was 'three strikes and you’re out' but I guess he doesn’t think so."
Levin and other residents hope the California Coastal Commission will finally greenlight the plan at the next meeting. Once approved, the water district plans to go ahead and begin drilling as soon as possible, and the new well could be ready by next July.
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