The 18 people who spoke Sept. 19 in Palo Alto on San Francisco’s $4.3 billion project to strengthen and upgrade its aging water system proclaimed two very clear messages:
Hurry up and make the system that delivers our water safe and reliable; and, conserve and recycle water instead of taking any more of it out of the Tuolumne River.
Some 50 people attended the fourth of five public hearings, from Sonora to San Francisco, on the draft program environmental impact report (PEIR) for the project to fix the system that provides water from Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park to 2.5 million people in four Bay Area counties.
The environmental report analyzes impacts of San Francisco’s massive Water System Improvement Program (WSIP). The program consists of 22 separate projects to strengthen the system of dams, pipes, tunnels and pumps that carry water 150 miles, across four major earthquake faults, to serve homes and businesses in San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, and Santa Clara counties.
Key local projects are the replacement of two pipelines that run under the Bay between Fremont and East Palo Alto with a tunnel, and the addition of an extra pipe in the right-of-way that runs through East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and North Fair Oaks. Individual projects will be subject to separate environmental impact reports to evaluate their impacts, said Kelly Capone, environmental projects manager for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which is running the WSIP.
While most speakers at the hearing focused on saving the Tuolumne River from more diversions and conserving water in our communities, they all appeared to support the rebuilding and seismic upgrade of the Hetch Hetchy system.
“We depend on this system; we have no other source of water,” said Daniel Seidel of the Purissima Hill Water District in Los Altos Hills. “Every day without seismic improvements in place is a risk for 2.4 million people.”
Growth, conservation and the Tuolumne
The hearing focused primarily on how to meet the increased demand for water due to growth in population, jobs and business, particularly in view of global warming and the prospects for reduced snowpacks.
Water program staff estimates that water demand in the Bay Area will increase by 13 percent in the next 25 years — from 265 million gallons a day in 2005 to 300 million in 2030.
Most speakers urged reducing demand through conservation and recycling, rather than seeking new water. They particularly focused on reducing outdoor water use, which accounts for 60 percent of all water used in some communities.
Palo Alto Councilman Peter Drekmeier, a former river guide, and now Bay Area program director for the Tuolumne River Trust, spoke passionately to save the Tuolumne from an additional diversion of up to 25 million gallons per day, as discussed in one of the PEIR alternatives. “That’s the equivalent of filling 1,000 swimming pools every day,” he said.
Mr. Drekmeier and others also charged that studies of watersheds and fish used in the PEIR are outdated and inadequate. He added, “The biggie is, the EIR mentions global warming but doesn’t discuss it.”
Claire Elliott of Palo Alto noted that discharge from sewage treatment plants is converting saltwater marsh to freshwater marsh around San Francisco Bay. “We need to reuse water,” if not for drinking, for watering gardens and golf courses, she said. “I do not want to see more lawns taking up water from a wild and scenic river.”
Ms. Capone reported that responses at the hearings in Sonora, Modesto and Fremont were very similar to those in Palo Alto.
Agencies respond
The agency that represents the 27 suburban agencies that buy two-thirds of San Francisco’s water wants to keep the emphasis on making the system safe and reliable.
“The issue of urgency is fixing the water system. We can take time to figure out how to meet the needs of the future,” said Art Jensen, general manager of the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency (BAWSCA).
In a Sept. 5 letter commenting on the PEIR, Mr. Jensen noted that there is a 60 percent chance by 2032 of a major earthquake in the Bay Area that could disrupt the flow of water for 30 to 60 days. “The impacts on health and safety would be catastrophic,” he wrote.
Mr. Jensen wanted to clarify confusion over diversions from the Tuolumne River. Sixty percent of its water is diverted, he said, but most goes to the Turlock and Modesto irrigation districts for agriculture. San Francisco and BAWSCA receive 12 percent of the flow.
Mr. Jensen said BAWSCA has a strong conservation program and hopes not to have to divert water from the Tuolumne. It also hopes to negotiate more conservation with the two irrigation districts that take most of the water.
“We support an alternative that does not require diverting an additional 25 million gallons per day from the river,” he said.
INFORMATION
• The PEIR can be viewed online by going to PEIR.sfwater.org and linking to the site. A copy is available at the San Mateo Library, at 55 West 3rd Ave.
• Comments on the PEIR are due by Oct. 1. They may be submitted at the hearing, or online to wsip.peir.comments@gmail.com; or in writing to Paul Maltzer, environmental review officer, WSIP PEIR, 1650 Madison St., Suite 400, San Francisco, CA 94103.
