Five public hearings are being held this month, from San Francisco to Sonora, on the massive Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) for the $4.3 billion project to rebuild San Francisco’s water system that supplies drinking water from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park to 2.4 million people in five counties.
The closest hearing will be held in Palo Alto on Wednesday, Sept. 19, at 6:30 p.m., at Avenidas Senior Center, 450 Bryant St.
The 3,000-page PEIR, prepared by the San Francisco Planning Department, analyzes the impacts of the proposed Water System Improvement Program planned by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to make its aging water system reliable.
The program consists of 22 projects to strengthen the system of dams, pipes, tunnels and pumps that carry water 150 miles, across three major earthquake faults, to serve homes and businesses in San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, and Santa Clara counties.
Key local projects are: replacing two pipelines that run under the Bay between Fremont and East Palo Alto with a tunnel; and adding an extra pipe in the right-of-way that runs through East Palo Alto, Menlo Park and North Fair Oaks.
Most controversial is the plan to increase the water supply for 2030 by taking an additional 25 million gallons per day from the Tuolumne River. Palo Alto Councilman Peter Drekmeier has just become Bay Area program director for the Tuolumne River Trust, which is spearheading the opposition. It supports increased conservation and recycling to accommodate future growth.
The environmental impact report 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 Avenue.
Comments on the report are due by Oct. 1. Comments may be submitted at the hearing, or by e-mail 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.
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