4 responses to “H2O – Public Concern Rising, Reservoirs Dropping”

1. Transplant

   October 13, 2015

   The irony of the situation and in particular the San Franciscan attitude of build-as-much-as-you-can is that they claim to be environmentalists but do the opposite. You can just read the headline from 2025 now
   San Francisco man dies of thirst in rent-controlled apartment

2. Joe

   October 14, 2015

   A very timely piece from today’s DJ:
   Nestled between the Caltrain tracks and the Orchard Supply Hardware in Millbrae, officials with the SFPUC and representatives from its partner agencies gathered Tuesday to unveil a drill rig that is working to tap into the South Westside Groundwater Basin source nearly 500 feet underground.
   The $113 project that includes 15 well sites and several treatment facilities, is part of a collaborative effort between the SFPUC, California Water Service Company and the cities of Daly City and San Bruno.
   While Cal Water and the cities have previously drawn from the 25-mile-square basin stretching from Burlingame to San Francisco, this agreement will be one of the SFPUC’s first forays into groundwater pumping.
   The utilities and two cities have agreed not to draw from aquifer during wet years allowing it to replenish, then use it in years of drought. As a tradeoff, the SFPUC will supplement Cal Water, San Bruno and Daly City with free Hetch Hetchy water during wet years.
   http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articles/lnews/2015-10-14/drill-to-tap-into-peninsula-aquifer-sfpuc-cal-water-san-bruno-colma-agree-to-seismic-drought-plan/1776425151839

3. Joe

   October 15, 2015

   Aside from the temperature aspect, I find the location of the reservoirs revealing. We store and “they” use it:
   The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says higher-than-normal temperatures likely will be the rule and not the exception this fall and winter. That could be a problem: Warm weather could hinder how much drought relief California will get when the much-anticipated El Niño arrives and the precipitation starts to fall.
   The oceanic agency delivered its latest winter forecast Thursday, and it was something of a mixed bag. It reiterated earlier predictions that California can expect one of the strongest El Niño winters ever, with above-average rains increasingly likely for the central and southern parts of the state.
   Northern California, home to most of the state’s major reservoirs, remains tougher to forecast. The agency said the Sacramento Valley has an 80 percent chance of getting normal precipitation this winter, and a 34 percent to 40 percent chance of above-average precipitation.
   However, the agency said exceedingly warm temperatures will mean much of that precipitation is likely to fall as rain instead of snow, undermining El Niño’s ability to ease the drought substantially. What California needs most is a generous snowpack in the northern Sierra Nevada, capable of keeping reservoirs, rivers and canals filled with runoff well into next spring and summer.
   Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/weather/article39285252#storylink=cpy

4. Joe

   October 16, 2015

   This letter to the editor in today’s SF Examiner hits the nail on the head 🙂
   Prioritizing water
   Joel Engardio asks the question: “When will we stop lamenting the lost past and start building the housing and transportation infrastructure our kids and grandchildren need?” (In My View, Oct. 11)
   A much higher priority question that needs to be answered well before Engardio’s question is: “When will San Francisco and the state of California start building enough water infrastructure to even consider more housing?” Our current water systems are woefully underbuilt and undermaintained to even serve the 38.8 million current Californians. Consider the shiny new Senate Bill 555 that merely requires water departments and private water companies to audit their systems for leaks — starting in two years. Without significant new reservoir capacity, desalinization and serious capital improvements to existing infrastructure, the answer to Engardio’s question should be “not in the foreseeable future.”
   Joseph Baylock
   Burlingame