The Newspaper of the San Francisco Bay Chapter
MAR - APR 2005
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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San Francisco plans to take more water out of the Tuolumne River
Even as a groundswell of public opinion urges San Francisco to remove the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, the city is moving on a project to increase its withdrawal of water out of the Tuolumne River that flows through the Hetch Hetchy.
San Francisco's 13-year $4.3 billion Capital Improvement Program would expand and renovate the Hetch Hetchy Water System. New pipelines and reservoirs could result in 50% more water being withdrawn from the Tuolumne River. Already the city's Public Utilities Commission is using this expansion project as a reason for preventing restoration for Hetch Hetchy Valley.
The PUC calls this a "historic rebuild of the Hetch Hetchy water delivery system". If the project is built and more water is taken, it will hamper the Hetch Hetchy restoration effort for decades, destroy existing restoration efforts on the Tuolumne River, fuel urban sprawl by providing more water to undeveloped areas, and flood existing wilderness areas with new and expanded reservoirs. This expansion is also a boondoggle. In only two years, the price tag has increased by a whopping $700 million; ratepayers will foot the bill.
A Sierra Club partner, the Tuolumne River Trust, delivered more than 2,500 letters to the PUC on behalf of concerned Californians. The Commission will make final recommendations on March 8.
© 2005 San Francisco Sierra Club Yodeler