About NMWD

Our Mission

Our mission is to meet the expectations of our customers in providing potable and recycled water and sewer services that are reliable, high-quality, environmentally responsible, and reasonably priced.

Our Vision

We strive to optimize the value of services we provide to our customers and continually seek new ways to enhance efficiency and promote worker and customer engagement and satisfaction.

North Marin Water District serves a suburban population of 63,955 people situated in and about the City of Novato which is located in a warm inland coastal valley of Marin County, California and several small improvement districts in the West Marin area near the coast.

Authority & Structure

Formed by voter approval in April 1948 pursuant to provisions of the County Water District Law (refer to Water Code – Division 12). A “voter-run” district.

North Marin Water District is an independent special district governed by a five-member Board of Directors elected by division for four-year terms.

Our service area covers 100 square miles (see map).

Current Service Functions

Water Service
Novato (note: Novato Sanitary District provides sewer service in Novato).
West Marin (Point Reyes Station, Olema, Bear Valley, Inverness Park, Paradise Ranch Estates)

Sewer Service
Oceana Marin

Organization Chart

Office of the General Manager

The General Manager is appointed by the Board of Directors to carry out the day-to-day activities of NMWD pursuant to the NMWD Regulations and Board Policies. The Manager has full responsibility for the maintenance, operation and construction of the NMWD water and wastewater systems and authority to determine employee duties to carry out these responsibilities.

Tony Williams was appointed General Manager of North Marin Water District on May 3, 2022. Tony receives sound policy guidance from the Board of Directors and sound legal advice from legal counsel Craig Judson of Bold, Polisner, Maddow, Nelson and Judson. Tony is assisted in carrying out the NMWD activities by the District Secretary, Eileen Mulliner, Ryan Grisso, Water Conservation and Communications Manager, and four competent Department Managers:

• General Manager: Tony Williams
• Auditor-Controller: Julie Blue*
• Assistant GM/Chief Engineer: Eric Miller*
• Construction/Maintenance: Chris Kehoe*
• Operations/Maintenance Superintendent: Robert Clark*
• District Secretary: Eileen Mulliner

*Also serves as Department Head (Departments described below)

Departments

Administration
The Administrative Department is comprised of the Administrative Services, Consumer Services, Finance and Information System. Consumer Services is responsible for reading water meters, responding to customer calls for service and assistance with their water service, creation and mailing of water bills, and answering customer questions regarding their bill or water use. Finance is responsible for general accounting and budgeting, payroll, purchasing, financial investments, risk management and information systems.

The Auditor-Controller, Administrative/Finance Department Chief, also administers human resource responsibilities for NMWD.

Engineering
The Engineering Department consists of a small professional and technical staff that oversees the planning, permitting, design, construction and project management of water supply, treatment, transmission and distribution facilities necessary to serve NMWD’s customers. Engineering functions for wastewater-related facilities are also provided by the Engineering Department to support the NMWD wastewater collection, treatment and disposal system in Oceana Marin (Dillon Beach area).

Property owners or developers desiring new water service or an upgrade to their existing service area are served by the Engineering Department to meet their needs pursuant to NMWD regulations.

Construction / Maintenance
The Construction/Maintenance Department has a variety of duties, principally related to the installation, repair and replacement of water main pipelines, their appurtenances and performs all “underground” maintenance for the District. The Construction/Maintenance Department also assists other departments to upkeep structures, grounds, storage tanks and pumping facilities.

The Transmission and Distribution (T&D) section is responsible for maintenance of water distribution equipment and facilities including valves, hydrants and some meter maintenance. This section is responsible for customer service leaks and repairs and minor construction and repair works.

The Construction/Maintenance Department is on-call at all times and may be the first to respond to emergency conditions such as service leaks, main breaks or knocked-over hydrants. The Construction/Maintenance staff works hand-in-hand with the public and developers to install high-quality and reliable facilities to serve NMWD customers with good clean water.

Operations / Maintenance (including Water Quality)
The Operations/Maintenance Department manages the supply, distribution and water quality for the City of Novato and the West Marin communities, and performs all “above-ground” maintenance for the District.

• Operations Division

In Novato, this division balances the tasks of treating and distributing the water from local Stafford Lake supply as well as distributing imported (Russian River) water from the Sonoma County Water Agency while maintaining appropriate water storage levels to reliably meet all water system demands and fire protection requirements. In Novato, the department manages over 32 million gallons of finished water in 42 tanks through 4 hydraulic pressure zones and 32 pump stations. Operations/Maintenance and Water Quality share the responsibilities of monitoring the watershed around Stafford Lake by providing the tributary and lake water samples required. Both departments also monitor the activities on the watershed and work cooperatively with landowners, the Indian Valley Golf Course and the Marin County Parks and Open Space in maintaining water quality in Stafford Lake.

West Marin responsibilities are similar: the Operations division operates the Lagunitas Creek wells and treatment plant which supply water to Point Reyes Station and the other West Marin communities. In West Marin, 865,000 gallons of finished water storage in 12 tanks, 7 pump stations in 4 different hydraulic pressure zones are managed. The Operations/ Maintenance Department also operate a wastewater collection and treatment system for the community of Oceana Marin adjacent to Dillon Beach.

• Maintenance Division

The Electrical/Mechanical (E/M) Section is responsible for operation and maintenance of all E/M systems, including motors, pumps, instrumentation and controls, telemetry, electrical power distribution, emergency generators, indoor/outdoor lighting, cathodic protection, regulating stations and hydro pneumatic tanks. This section provides maintenance services for the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, and facilitates repair and installation of radios, telephones and other communication equipment and systems. Additionally, this section installs new equipment including energy efficient motor/pumps, energy conserving lighting and devices for programmable logic controllers and other controls that increase equipment efficiency, reliability and extend equipment useful life.

The Building and Grounds section is responsible for the maintenance and cleanliness of District buildings, tank sites, pump stations and other facilities. This section keeps District facilities looking professional and free from environmental hazards. Responsibilities include outdoor activities for weed control, tree over-growth removal, graffiti removal, weatherproofing, painting, security audits and indoor activities for lighting management, smoke alarm tests, fire extinguisher inspections and oversee custodial services.

The Fleet / Equipment section is responsible for maintaining automobiles, light and medium duty trucks and construction equipment in a safe reliable condition. This includes DOT inspection, quarterly services, annual services and emergency repairs in the shop and in the field.

• Water Quality Division

Providing our customers with the highest quality drinking water is the responsibility of every NMWD employee. It is the responsibility of the Water Quality Division to provide oversight to all aspects of NMWD operations to ensure that water quality is protected. The Water Quality Division works with all other NMWD departments providing them with the information and tools to ensure that the drinking water is of the highest possible quality and that all state and federal drinking water standards are met in the Novato and Point Reyes communities.

Water quality is protected using a multi-barrier approach. Surveillance and monitoring is performed at multiple points from source to tap. NMWD’s laboratory performs thousands of water quality tests each year as required under state and federal drinking water regulations to support the work performed by other NMWD departments.

Annually, a water quality report is sent to all NMWD customers in Novato and West Marin. In addition, the Water Quality Division staff responds to customer calls with more specific information on water quality.

The Water Quality Division maintains a close working relationship with state and federal regulatory agencies. NMWD has supported the American Water Works Association Research Foundation to ensure that research on emerging issues is performed in a timely manner and provides the water industry with the tools to protect water quality.