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By 12/09/2020
The level of sodium in Point Reyes Station’s drinking water is trending down, but the North Marin Water District is wary that unprecedented salinity intrusion could continue through the winter if rainfall is sparse. To mitigate the problem, the district is building a new well away from Tomales Bay and exploring how to provide drinking water for customers with health risks. The district tests the water weekly for sodium and chlorine, with the goal of understanding how salty the water is. Chlorine measurements helps indicate the scope of the intrusion, while sodium levels affect the taste and create a health risk for certain diets. The Nov. 17 test was good news: Samples showed 31.9 milligrams of sodium per liter, below the 50-milligram reporting threshold and far lower than the 400-milligram levels seen in August. But the past two weeks, the test showed 219 and 224 milligrams, reflecting the vagaries of a once-a-week test. “We are tr