Meet our newest Board member – Lance Meade
Director Meade was appointed to the Board on February 17, 2024 to fill Director Morey Nelsen's vacant seat. He moved to Stinson Beach in 1989 pursuing an airline pilot career based at San Francisco Airport. He met his future wife in Stinson soon after moving here. He and his wife, Tauni purchased their home in 1992 after getting married and have been permanent residents ever since. Lance volunteered as one of several people that helped create the Stinson Beach Village Green. He has continued to serve our small park currently as a CSA Commissioner for Marin County Parks and looks forward to being a valued member of the Stinson Water Board of Directors. “Our Water District is the most amazing benefit Stinson has and it is a serious responsibility to keep it safe for all of us.” Lance graduated Ohio University with a BA of Business Administration. He served United Airlines for 35 years with 28 years as a Captain.
Director Meade serves on the Personnel and Wastewater Committees and his current term expires in December 2024.
Water meter replacement program
Your water meter is a sophisticated piece of equipment used to monitor your water usage. To do this, it uses ultrasonic technology to measure flow every 15 minutes then wirelessly transmits that data via a 5G cell network to the District for billing purposes and leak monitoring. Both the meter and the wireless communicator (called an “endpoint”) have a non-replaceable battery to power their respective devices. These batteries have a 10-year lifespan.
To proactively account for this, the District has established an ongoing meter replacement program to replace 75 meters and endpoints annually. Doing so ensures that all meters and endpoints are replaced at least once every 10 years.
Save money using Eye-On-Water
Did you know that the same water usage data transmitted to the District by your water meter and endpoint is available to you 24/7? Using the Eye-On-Water portal, you too can track your individual water usage, check for potential leaks, and/or set up leak alerts for your property here in Stinson Beach on any computer or mobile device.
Catching leaks early will avoid large water bills. We recently had a customer whose outdoor hose bibb broke off resulting in a daily use of over 7,000 gallons. Fortunately, Eye-On-Water flagged the leak and alerted the District. We immediately contacted the homeowner who asked us to temporarily turn off the water to the property until the leak could be fixed. Prior to implementing Eye-On-Water, this leak would have continued for an entire month until District staff manually read the meter. In that scenario, the homeowner would have had a water bill of over $7,400!
To set up an Eye-On-Water account or access your existing account, please visit our website: stinsonwater.org. Look for the Eye-On-Water link in the top menu bar on our homepage. Sign up with your email address, your account number (see the upper left corner of your water bill), and zip code 94970.
Consider your source of water
Did you know that the sole source of water for Stinson Beach is Easkoot Creek watershed, itself dependent on rainfall over Mount Tamalpais? This watershed is over 1,000 acres in size and begins in the upper reaches of steeply forested western mountain slope, in public lands managed by the National Park Service and California State Parks. One of the most biologically diverse and ecologically significant areas on the California coast, the watershed drains an area of 1.59 square miles. Just upstream of Shoreline Highway three smaller tributaries (Fitzhenry, Laurel and Black Rock Creeks) join to form Easkoot Creek, before flowing through private property into Bolinas Lagoon.
In addition to rainfall-dependent creek flow, Stinson Water collects water from three strategically located wells. The combined water is treated at our Laurel Avenue water treatment before being distributed throughout the community, largely by gravity.
The next time you turn on the tap or leave the hose running in the yard, consider what it took for that water to reach you. Your water source is finite and precious, falling from sky onto the mountain, and flowing gently through forest and sand to your home or business.
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