With the threat of drought ever present, water districts across the Bay Area are looking for ways to increase storage capacity.  The Marin Municipal Water District thinks it has a good idea for Nicasio Reservoir, but those living nearby say it will likely put them under water.

Nicasio Reservoir looks nearly full now, but in 2021, the Marin Municipal Water District said it was within months of running dry and they're not forgetting that, just because we've had a few wet years.

"That rainfall pattern is changing," Project Engineer Elysha Irish said in a public meeting earlier this month. "The storms can be more intense. The storms can be more infrequent.  And they're just becoming a little unpredictable in nature.

So, the district wants to raise the lake by adding an inflatable gate at the top of the existing dam. It would raise the water level by about 4½ feet and add about 3,700-acre feet to the supply.  

But neighbors who live nearby and don't get any water from the reservoir said they will be the ones paying the price for it. And it centers around Nicasio Elementary School.  

There is a video of the creek in a rainstorm last year, looking like a roaring river just across the school's fence, with water backing up into the playground.

"We're calling it 'ground zero' because this is where you see impact," said Nicasio Landowners Association President Ruth Dawson. "And as you go through the neighboring homes back toward the east side of Nicasio Creek, you'll see continued implications of the flooding."

Mike Seybold lives in one of those homes.

"Well, currently, in February 2025, we had a major flood of water that came through, flooded out 3/4 of my property, washed away a bunch of trees, washed away more land into the creek," he said.  "My backyard is on their plan of 'inundation.'  With this new 4½ foot rise of water, it would be in my backyard."

On Wednesday, Seybold and other neighbors were at the library researching MMWD's history with the reservoir.  It was constructed in 1961, and for the first 25 year,s the district dredged the creek to remove the sediment that gets deposited when the flowing water hit the reservoir.  

But the residents say MMWD stopped doing that in about 1987.

"Now we're at a point where the creek bed is completely filled up with gravel.  And when we get high rainfall events, there's nowhere for the water to go.  It runs into the existing reservoir level and stops and spreads out and floods the school grounds," said resident Amy Morse. "If the creek were dredged, there is a good chance that the flooding, coupled with the 4-foot rise of the dam, might not be an issue. The issue that we're having is there's been no maintenance, no dredging.  They have an already ongoing problem.  Four feet of water is going to exacerbate the problem."

So, the people living near the reservoir are staging a local uprising, posting signs along the street and campaigning against the plan that they say could put their doorsteps on the edge of a lake.

"I think they're listening," said resident Martha Davis, "but the most important reaction is, "we didn't know.'  Which tells me that they really hadn't done as much of the homework ahead of announcing that they wanted to move forward with this project."

The project's public comment period is scheduled to end on Tuesday, August 4th.  The neighbors said the district considered a nearly identical plan back in 1980, but it was abandoned because of the threat of flooding.  They're wondering why it's being considered now, when the current flooding problems have only gotten worse.