Tuolumne River campaign nears success
San Francisco is moving closer to approving a $4.3-billion rehabilitation plan for its water system - a plan that might avoid major new diversions from the Tuolumne River.
On Sep. 30, after taking a year to respond to more than 1,300 comments, the San Francisco Planning Department released the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Water System Improvement Program (WSIP) of the San Francisco Public Utility Commission (PUC). Environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club, support upgrading the aging Hetch Hetchy water system, but have been disturbed that alternative versions of the plan call for diverting as much as 25 million more gallons of water per day from the "Wild and Scenic" Tuolumne River in Yosemite National Park.
Also on Sep. 30, the PUC released its staff recommendations, urging support for a new alternative called the "Phased WSIP", which would allow the seismic upgrades to move forward without diverting nearly as much water from the river, at least until 2018. This is a big step in the right direction.
Conservation organizations still prefer the "Aggressive Conservation/Water Recycling and Local Groundwater Alternative", which would cap diversions from the Tuolumne until 2030, but are seriously considering the Phased WSIP. By postponing for 10 years any decision on diverting additional large quantities of water, the Phased WSIP would allow time to:
- re-examine water-demand projections (which we believe are inflated);
- explore the potential for major improvements in water conservation and recycling;
- study the potential impacts of climate change on future flows in the Tuolumne;
- finish a biological study of the stretch of the Tuolumne below Hetch Hetchy.
The Phased WSIP does call for diverting an additional two million gallons of water per day from the river. This is far better than the 25 million gallons proposed in the Preferred Alternative, but with the salmon population crashing from 18,000 in 2000 to just 211 last year, it's clear that the river needs all the water it can get. We are also concerned whether the plan includes adequate assurances that agencies will adhere to the diversion cap.
WhatYouCanDo
Contact the SFPUC at:
MHoush@sfwater.org
c/o Mike Housh
1145 Market St.
San Francisco, CA 94103.
Urge the commission to adopt a project that does not cause any further harm to the Tuolumne River.
Attend the final WSIP hearing on Thu., Oct. 30. For updates and information on the time and location, please e-mail peter -at- tuolumne.org.
To learn more about the EIR, visit www.sfgov.org/site/planning_index.asp?id=80530