Bay Area Water Supply

Hetch Hetchy

• Reservoir
  • Supplies water to 2.4 million people
  • Runs from Yosemite to the Bay Area
  • Pipelines installed a long time ago, rusting, in danger if earthquake occurs
• O’Shaughnessy Dam
  • Built to keep water in
  • Does not filter water
• Restoring the Valley
  • Would involve removing of dam
  • Would result in a lot of money lost from hydropower revenue
  • Would cost 3-10 billion dollars
  • Would provide jobs
  • Would reveal a valley as large as Yosemite Valley

Claremont tunnel

• Runs underground
• In danger from earthquake
• Large amount of people would lose water supply if fails
• Bypass tunnel excavated in 2005
• Bypass tunnel lies in earthquake prone area
• In event of earthquake would provide uninterrupted flow

Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta

• Contains a huge ecosystem
• Provides about 90 percent of fresh water flow to the Bay Area
• Water quality is worsening

Regional outlook for future water supply

• The Past
  • Bay Area experienced droughts before
  • Extreme water conservation followed
• The Future
  • Water might soon become a luxury
  • Recent dry years contribute to danger
  • Water in reservoirs diminishing; snowpack unreliable; ecosystem near collapse