H2O: Remember This When the Rationing Starts Again

No one should be surprised that the water gets a little stinky a couple times a year.  It happens every year and every year we are reminded that it is still OK to drink.  Not the best shower experience ever, but if you travel like I have around the globe, you have experienced much worse.  The DJ has this piece about it that doesn't mention Hetch Hetchy, but I have tasted/smelled a bit of stink from B'game water as well.

Unpleasant odors and flavors reported in drinking water this week are caused by a harmless algae byproduct, San Francisco water officials said Thursday.  Ritchie said the problem was missed initially because it is extremely unusual to have algae problems in the cooler winter months, and no algae bloom is evident at the San Antonio Reservoir, the presumed source of the algae.

Now here is the kicker and why you should remember this post next summer when the rationing kicks in again

SFPUC Assistant General Manager Steve Ritchie said the water department began receiving customer complaints of earthy, musty flavors and odors on Friday, shortly after employees began taking steps to lower the water levels in local reservoirs in anticipation of rain.

I have a proposal:  How about every building project approval in the Bay Area gets put on hold until approved plans are in place for more reservoir capacity?  The more capacity that finds space, connecting pipes, funding and environmental approval, the more the building spigot gets opened.  I know, I know.  That makes way too much sense.

Comments

[Laura]

At the Council meeting last Tuesday a Council women asked if we had enough water for all the growth they had planned for Burlingame. The answer was yes, but that we needed wet years and not drought years. So that comment was taken as yes, we have plenty of water for the massive growth planned, we just can't have any future drought years! I see major rationing in our future..

[hillsider]

That answer is laughable. There isn't anyone on the city staff who is qualified to answer that question and it shows in the answer they tried to pass off on the public.

[Joe]

I'm willing to bet the Millbrae city staff will say there is plenty of water for this too:

The developer has offered to build 376 units of housing, along with approximately 150,000 square feet of office space and a Marriott hotel offering about 160 rooms on a slice of BART land near the city’s rail station currently used for parking. Some of the units would be set aside at affordable rates for military veterans.

As pressure is applied to push the project ahead, Councilwoman Gina Papan said she favors assuring adequate consideration is given to preserving access to the rail station while balancing the regional need to build more housing.

“The primary concern to residents of Millbrae is access to public transportation at the largest intermodal transit station west of the Mississippi, and thus, anything that happens there, the primary focus should be ingress and egress out of the station,” she said.

- See more at: http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articles/lnews/2016-12-12/rail-station-development-seeking-momentum-developers-rallying-support-for-millbrae-bart-multi-use-project-but-city-official-remains-critical/1776425172645.html#sthash.YwaICy5w.dpuf

[Joe]

Remember this when the rationing starts--or worse when the big one hits and the civil unrest starts because aging dams broke and water is scarce. From today's Merc:

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Reflecting problems at other aging reservoirs, a $200 million project to drain and repair one of the Bay Area’s largest dams to reduce the risk of it collapsing in a major earthquake will double in cost and be delayed by at least two more years.

Managers at the Santa Clara Valley Water District, based in San Jose, had hoped to start construction in early 2018 on the seismic upgrade work at Anderson Dam, a 240-foot-high earthen dam that sits east of Highway 101 between San Jose and Morgan Hill.

But now the construction won’t start until mid-2020, and the cost will jump to least $400 million, according to an update the district’s board is scheduled to hear Tuesday from Katherine Oven, the district’s deputy operating officer.

Anderson Reservoir holds 90,000 acre-feet of water when full, more than the other nine reservoirs in Santa Clara County combined. Specifically, a 6.6 magnitude quake on the Calaveras Fault directly at Anderson Reservoir, or a 7.2 quake centered one mile away, could cause the huge earthen dam to slump and fail.
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Tell me again the story about how we have plenty of water for all of the over-development in the Bay Area.

[Bruce Dickinson]

Just came across the Dickinson desk:

http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Millionaires-sue-Hillsborough-over-tiered-water-10818640.php

Looks like things are going to get interesting, indeed!

[Joe]

The Dickinson desk and the Comical are 3 weeks behind the DJ and Voice desks:

http://www.burlingamevoice.com/2016/11/hborough-water-rate.html#comments

[Joe]

While we are talking water, this piece from the DJ highlights how fragile the transport of the drinking water we do have is right now:

Residents in San Mateo and San Francisco counties may not notice much of a difference, but in the coming months the water pouring out of their faucets won’t be trickling down directly from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is planning a two-month shutdown of its massive Mountain Tunnel, meaning nearly 2.6 million customers will be temporarily cut off from their Yosemite National Park water source.

The move is necessary as the SFPUC investigates what repairs are needed to the nearly century-old tunnel winding 19 miles through granite rock in Tuolumne County. The tunnel, nearly 7,000 feet below ground, is a vital component of the system that caries water from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to Bay Area faucets, according to the utility.

Starting Jan. 3, SFPUC customers and San Mateo County residents will instead be relying upon local facilities.

In San Mateo County, customers will primarily tap the Crystal Springs Reservoir and the San Bruno-based Harry Tracy Water Treatment Plant, Ritchie said. - See more at: http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articles/lnews/2016-12-24/water-users-cut-off-from-main-source-sfpuc-to-temporarily-take-mountain-tunnel-offline-use-local-reservoirs/1776425173301.html#sthash.GPKKl9vF.dpuf

[Bruce Dickinson]

All right Joe, in the holiday spirit, Bruce Dickinson will let you off easy this time!

Looking forward to 2017! *wink*