Hetch Hetchy Tour Highlights Latest Threat to the System

Bay Area Council Water Committee Chairs Andy Ball and Jim Levine this week led a coalition of business leaders on an overnight tour of the Hetch Hetchy regional water system, the Bay Area’s largest single source of fresh water. The Hetch Hetchy system serves 2.7 million Bay Area residents with some of the cleanest tap water in the world, and generates carbon free electricity for San Francisco’s public infrastructure such as MUNI, SFO and government buildings. The tour was organized by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the Bay Area Council and the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, and traveled to the Pulgas Water Temple at Crystal Springs Reservoir, the Tesla Portal UV Water Treatment Facility, and the Moccassin Powerhouse, and culminated with an overnight stay at the scenic cabins at Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.

In 2012, the Bay Area Council led efforts to defeat a San Francisco-ballot measure to drain the Hetch Hetchy reservoir, and is today working to defend water from the reservoir against a misguided effort by the State Water Board that would result in a vast curtailment in the region’s dry-year water supplies. To engage on the Bay Area Council Water Committee, please contact Vice President Adrian Covert.