Another Sneak Preview: Marin-Friendly Garden Tour

by Craig Lauridsen

Registration is still open for the 2013 Marin-Friendly Garden Tour, scheduled for Saturday, May 18, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It only takes a minute to sign up using our online registration system, and there’s no charge to attend! Register by May 1 to be automatically entered into a drawing to win a Marin-Friendly prize! We hope you can join us.

The 2013 tour features nine inspiring gardens that showcase a variety of environmentally friendly practices, ranging from conserving water to creating wildlife habitat. Here’s a sneak preview of one of the gardens on this year’s tour.

There are so many reasons to visit this garden. The front yard has a collection of towering redwoods and an impressive valley oak that have watched the neighborhood mature for over 100 years. When you enter the backyard, it’s hard to believe that for 40 long years the entire space was covered in cement and a swimming pool. This all changed when new owners purchased the home in 2010. They worked with a landscape professional and designed the backyard to be drought-tolerant and wildlife-friendly, with mostly native plantings, and a vegetable and herb garden. Stepping-stone pathways connect three small patios, and artwork is peppered into the landscape to add color and character. One corner of the backyard features two raised beds for a seasonal vegetable garden and a wire trellis on the fence encouraging two young kiwi plans to grow. Soil is kept healthy through the use of a compost bin. An onsite well is used for irrigation, and the owners carefully manage their water by using drip irrigation and a self-adjusting irrigation controller.

For more information about the 2013 Marin-Friendly Garden Tour visit marinwater.org.

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Listening for Irrigation Leaks

by Craig Lauridsen

What do leaks sound like? Most of us have heard a toilet running or a broken pipe gushing, but fewer of us have heard the subtle hissing of water pushing through a stuck irrigation valve. Automatic irrigation valves (also called solenoid valves or electric valves) are usually located somewhere along the perimeter of your house, apartment or business and are often grouped together, forming something called a manifold. These manifolds are sometimes located in valve boxes that may be buried and covered in mulch or soil. Because of their inconspicuous locations, people often overlook them when searching for leaks. 

The main reason an irrigation valve develops a leak is because something gets stuck in it. If sand, sediment, glue residue or even an insect gets caught in your valve, it can keep it from closing. And if the valve doesn’t close all the way, then you will be losing water 24/7 until it is repaired or replaced. Even though the valve is the source of the leak, the escaping water continues through the pipes and will usually emerge from your lowest sprinkler heads or drippers. So a soggy spot on one part of your property might be caused by a stuck valve somewhere else.

As an MMWD Water Conservation Specialist, I’ve identified several irrigation valve leaks while performing water-use efficiency surveys for customers through our Conservation Assistance Program. I recently found a 370-gallon-per-day leak (based on meter movement) that was being caused by two stuck irrigation valves. This particular home is on a slope so the water was draining to the bottom of the property—out of sight, out of mind . . . until the water bill arrived. When I put my ear near the valves I could hear the hissing as water squeezed through the stuck valves.

So the next time you’re looking or listening for leaks, remember to check your irrigation valves. To help you evaluate your entire property, both inside and out, MMWD has an easy step-by-step guide to help you check for leaks and make sure your house is water efficient. You can find the Do-It-Yourself Home Water Survey on our website, or visit us at 220 Nellen Avenue in Corte Madera to pick up a copy.

Prefer to have one of our water conservation experts perform a survey for you? Call us at 945-1523 to schedule a free appointment.

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Water Wonders: Water Education Programs for the 2010-11 School Year

by Craig Lauridsen

Calling all students, teachers, school administrators, parents and volunteers to get the word out about MMWD’s FREE environmental education programs for the 2010-11 school year! Our goal is to instill an appreciation for and understanding of Marin’s unique natural environment in students of all ages. Join us and learn all about one of the most amazing substances on earth—water!

Last year more than half of the schools in our service area participated in our programs, reaching over 6,000 students, parents and teachers. (To see what a great time they had, check out these photos.) This year our programs are as fun-filled and informative as ever. They include:

• Musical assemblies
• Field trips to the beautiful Mt. Tamalpais Watershed
• Service learning opportunities
• Classroom presentations
• Do-It-Yourself Water Conservation
• Trout in the Classroom
• School bus reimbursement (for qualifying schools)

Participants will learn about water supply, personal water use, simple water conservation practices, watersheds and watershed ecology, among other things. Through a visit to the Mt. Tamalpais Watershed, students can discover where their water comes from, gain hands-on experience in habitat restoration, and participate in meaningful scientific research in the field of vegetation ecology. All programs are designed to support California education standards while fostering water conservation and environmental stewardship. 

Hurry! Our programs are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. For complete details and scheduling information, see our school education page.

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H2O in the Classroom

by Craig Lauridsen

Staying hydrated is one of the easiest ways to maintain good health, but how you choose to do this also can impact the health of the environment and your pocket book. If you drink two liters of bottled water everyday for an entire year it can cost you over $1,000, but if you drink the same amount of MMWD tap water for a year, delivered to your house 24/7, you can spend less than $1. That’s right, bottled water can cost 1,000 percent more than tap water! In addition to the cost, you will end up with hundreds of empty plastic bottles at the end of the year as opposed to just one refillable bottle. It also takes a tremendous amount of energy to manufacture plastic bottles—in fact, it can take 4x more water to make the bottle than to fill it!

MMWD presentation at Tamalpais High School

These are just a few of the water facts we shared with over 100 Tamalpais High School students at the school’s Earth Day Festival. MMWD has been offering similar classroom presentations throughout the 2009-10 school year, and teachers and students have responded with enthusiasm. 

If you are a teacher and would like to schedule a presentation by one of our water experts before summer vacation, it’s not too late! Just call us at (415) 945-1529. Or, plan ahead for next school year. The classroom visits include topics such as water conservation/supply, everyday water use, our dependence on local rainfall, the water cycle, and more. Presentations also can be tailored to focus on particular topics, or to incorporate take-home water audit kits which students can complete with their families to evaluate their own water use. 

So far there have been 11 presentations, reaching eight schools and over 300 students ranging from grades 3-12. MMWD would like to thank the following schools for participating in the program this year:

• Dixie Elementary, San Rafael – Green Team meeting
• Marin Academy High School, San Rafael – “The story of our stuff”
• Marin Catholic High School, Kentfield – “Where does our stuff come from/go?”
• Saint Mark’s School, San Rafael – Eco Fest
• Sir Francis Drake High School, San Anselmo – Career Day
• Star Academy, San Rafael – Water conservation/supply
• Strawberry Point School, Mill Valley – Water conservation/supply
• Tamalpais High School, Mill Valley – Earth Day Festival

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Try Harvesting Some of this Rain

by Craig Lauridsen

MMWD recently hosted a three-day Rainwater Harvesting & Accreditation Workshop at the College of Marin’s Indian Valley Campus. While rain was pouring outside, in the classroom 30 interested students learned all about capturing this valuable resource. The students came from various backgrounds and included landscape professionals, plumbers, city and county employees, non-profit employees, and others. Billy Kniffen, with American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association (ARCSA), used his extensive knowledge and firsthand experience in teaching the workshop.  In addition to being an ARCSA instructor, Billy depends 100 percent on rainwater for all of his indoor and outdoor water needs at his home in Menard, Texas. 

Day one of the workshop (Level 100) introduced rainwater harvesting in non-potable applications, such as landscape irrigation  Days two and three (Level 200) dove into this subject and covered design, installation, outdoor and in-home use, sanitation, rules and regulations, and more.  To learn more about these workshops and the Association’s upcoming events, visit www.arcsa.org.

The workshop was particularly timely as MMWD has recently formed a partnership with the Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN) to launch the “10,000 Rain Gardens Project.”  This community-based program is designed to provide FREE rainwater harvesting resources (technical, design assistance) to residents and businesses that are MMWD customers. To learn more about this program please visit www.spawnusa.org.

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Connecting Students to Nature

by Craig Lauridsen

Connecting students to nature is a wonderful thing!  Last week Terra Linda High School kicked off our 2009-10 watershed field trip program with a total of 68 juniors and seniors joining MMWD staff for a field trip on the Mt. Tamalpais Watershed.  For most of the students it was their first time on the watershed lands, but I’ll bet it won’t be their last. 

Terra Linda High School students pulling invasive French broom on the Mt. Tamalpais Watershed

We met near Phoenix Lake dam where we talked to the group about water conservation, water supply and distribution, and our dependence on local rainfall.  Following the talk, half of the group used specialized weed wrenches to pull highly invasive French broom, which has infested over 1,000 acres of watershed lands.  This noxious weed crowds out native plants, changes soil chemistry so that native plants adapted to California soils are unable to compete, and can change the natural fire regime of an ecosystem, increasing fire intensity. 

The other half of the group performed an ecology lab in which they collected valuable data that will be used to track changes over time in broom spread, Douglas-fir distribution, sudden oak death, and general plant community structure. Midway through the field trip the groups switched, allowing all the students to gain hands-on experience in both projects.

Over the next eight months approximately 1,000 students from at least 15 different schools are scheduled to participate in our field trip program.  To learn more about this and other free programs that MMWD offers schools in our service area, please click here.

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