Crypto Fast - Day 4 of 33

From a mathematical standpoint, I am 12% into this crypto fast and today is the 12th day of September. I know...pretty cheesy! So today I will be talking about the small coastal town of Tomales, which is part of the West Marin Coastline.

The West Marin is the largest rural region of Marin County, California. The West Marin Chamber of Commerce includes seven unincorporated communities, which include (1) Point Reyes Station, (2) Olema, (3) Stinson Beach, (4) Bolinas, (5) Tomales, (6) Dillon Beach, and (7) Inverness. West Marin is generally considered to be west of Muir Beach and Nicasio on the Pacific Ocean side of Mount Tamalpais. The Point Reyes Light is a weekly newspaper covering West Marin, and the website of the Marin Independent Journal has a category for West Marin news. Unlike the rest of the county, which is served by Golden Gate Transit, West Marin is served by Marin Transit, which connects to Golden Gate Transit lines at Marin City and in the San Geronimo Valley. The Environmental Action Committee of West Marin, active since the 1970s, focuses on environmental issues such as preserving open space and protecting vulnerable species.

I consulted the Marin County Local Coastal Plan (LCP) for demographics, land use, and water resource data for the Tomales. As of 2010, there were 91 dwelling units in Tomales and a population of approximately 204 persons. Historically, the rate of residential development within Tomales has been slow with an average of only about one unit per year over the last 20 years. Several factors contribute to the slow rate of residential development, including the remote location of Tomales, water and sewer availability, and real estate market considerations. Tomales is located above Keys Creek, about 3 miles northeast of Tomales Bay. The nearest city is Petaluma, which is about 20 minutes away, and the nearest metropolitan city is San Francisco, which is about 75 minutes to the south.

Most future residential development could occur in the village core area where properties are zoned for higher residential densities at one unit per 6,000 square feet and are located either within or immediately adjacent to the sewer system service area.

Potable water for Tomales is provided by private, individual wells tapped into local groundwater sources. Past pollution problems related to the leaching of sewage into groundwater sources appears to have been significantly reduced with the opening of the sewer collection and treatment system in 1977 by the North Marin Water District. There are no area-wide estimates of groundwater availability.

At the present time, on-site water sources are required to be proved before new development can take place, but there is little knowledge of the area’s groundwater characteristics or the long-range capacity for population growth depending on local water sources. Ideally, a groundwater supply study could be conducted to determine whether the yield of the groundwater basin can support buildout of the community. Such a study, however, would be an expensive and time-consuming undertaking. Regardless, buildout of the community does not appear large enough to exhaust groundwater supplies or cause overdraft of the groundwater basin. Since water availability may be uncertain in some locations, however, on-site well test to demonstrate adequate flow must continue to be required prior to development.

There are three potential other sources of water: (1) deep wells and springs, (2) Walker Creek, and (3) Stemple Creek. Walker Creek is approximately one mile south of Tomales, while Stemple Creek is approximately one mile north. Importing water form these two distant sources would be economically infeasible for a community as small as Tomales. General estimates of water potential from these sources would require a study of moderate scale, while a comprehensive study would be a larger undertaking.

In the absence of such information, long-range plans for development in Tomales are based on the historical precedent that there was apparently sufficient local water available to serve larger populations in the past, but it should be noted that this is not really an adequate information base because per capita water use may be higher today and historical data is not very specific.

Tomales is served by the Marin County Fire Department. The existing fire station on Dillon Beach Road has a crew of two to five firefighters, depending on the season, and three fire engines, including a 1,250-gallon per minute pumper, a 500-gallon per minute pumper, and a 1,500-gallon water tender with a 500-gallon per minute pumper. In addition, there is an active volunteer force in Tomales of eight or nine individuals. Therefore, the most important issue is not one of response time from the station, equipment, and firefighters, but rather of available water supply.

Emergency water supplies are available and accessible at various locations around the village, including two storage tanks with a total capacity of 13,000 gallons, a 60,000-gallon tank at the high school, and numerous private tanks ranging in size from 3,000 to 7,000 gallons. The Marin County Fire Department is currently implementing plans for another storage tank in Tomales with a capacity of 67,000 gallons. When this new tank and its related water distribution facilities (water lines, fire hydrants, etc.) are constructed, emergency water supply shortage capacity and distribution should be adequate to handle a fire for most structures in Tomales.