Hetch Hetchy Reservoir to Be Upgraded

The Hetch Hetchy reservoir, a glacial valley located in Yosemite National Park that has provided 2.4 million residents of the San Francisco Bay area with clean water for 82 years, is about to undergo an eight-billion-dollar upgrade.

The project is geared to ensure the continued cleanliness of the water as well as the stability of the infrastructure supplying it in the event of an earthquake. Water from the Hetch Hetchy, which is fed by the Tuolumne River, is so pure that it requires no filtering, having undergone a natural filtration process on its way to the Bay Area.

But campers and hikers in Yosemite threaten the water’s purity because of the trash, human waste and chemicals (like those found in their soap) which they leave behind.

So, Yosemite Park will receive approximately $3 million over a period of five years to educate outdoor enthusiasts on how to respect the watershed and avoid runoff into the river.

San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom and Susan Leal, general manager of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), recently announced the agreement between the PUC and Yosemite as part of an initiative to preserve a steady supply of drinking water to San Francisco while retaining the use of hydroelectric power rather than turning to fossil fuels.

Not everyone is in favor of the new project, nor were some prominent environmentalists in favor of the reservoir’s creation in the early 1900s. The steadfast naturalist John Muir opposed the proposition of the Hetch Hetchy project shortly after the city of San Francisco obtained water rights there in 1903.

“Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water-tanks the peoples’ cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man,” solemnized Muir.

Nonetheless, construction of the dam began in 1913 and was completed in 1923.

Even so, efforts to drain the O’Shaughnessy Dam, which contains the Hetch Hetchy reservoir, and restore the valley to its former grandeur are being considered and there is, in fact, a dedicated movement to that end, spearheaded by the Sierra Club.

Donald Hodel, U.S. Secretary of the Department of the Interior during Ronald Reagan’s administration, first suggested such a scenario in 1987. Some people though, including Sierra Club director Carl Pope, thought that he had a hidden agenda: to instigate disjuncture between San Francisco residents and environmentalists.

Diane Feinstein, as mayor of San Francisco in 1987, called the idea of draining the dam, “…dumb, dumb, dumb.”

Still, a recent study by the California Department of Water Resources suggested that it would be not such a bad idea. Although it would be very expensive, it would not have a detrimental impact on water supplies to the Bay Area, the study concluded, because there are eight other reservoirs which could adequately supply most of the water needs.