There are days when I think the clowns at the San Francisco Comicle should pay me to read their fish wrap. Once in a while the thought lasts a week. This is one of those weeks. The "editorial board" published a piece titled "S.F.'s spigot won't run forever". That was in last Sunday's print edition. The online version I just linked to was titled "Don’t let a few ‘monster’ storms fool you, S.F.’s water supply is unsustainable". You think hey, maybe the public opinion polls, La Nina, the water measurements, the grotesque over-development or the warnings from Newsom might have sunk in? Nope. Didn't happen. Here's what they said
On Oct. 20, state environmental officials sent an ominous letter to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which supplies drinking water to the city and nearly 2 million other Bay Area residents. It read in part: “Proposed voluntary actions by water agencies on the San Joaquin River tributaries have fallen short of needed flow and habitat improvements, and viable proposals are not being offered at this time.”
What does that mean in layman’s terms? It means Bay Area water users are unsustainably and likely unlawfully draining the sources of our supply — and killing the habitats and wildlife that rely on those sources. And we don’t have a workable plan to fix it.
For decades, San Francisco and the Bay Area have enjoyed one of the cleanest and most reliable water supplies in the country, 85% of which comes from Hetch Hetchy. But we’ve taken that resource for granted. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is decades behind other California water agencies in building alternative and sustainable new water infrastructure.
You have to love the unsubstantiated use of "unlawfully". But what to do about this impending disaster that the Comicle has just discovered? Well? Let's get the new SFPUC general manager--a long-time EssEff insider, Dennis Herrera-- to force the Peninsula under its thumb. How? Let's start with Green Envy
San Franciscans are known for being sparing with our own water usage. But many of the nearly 2 million other Bay Area residents that use Hetch Hetchy water to are not nearly as parsimonious in their usage as we are. San Francisco should not be complicit in the extinction of several aquatic species so that Peninsula homeowners can keep their lawns green.
The same fishwrap that whines about how many Sequoias were burned in the wildfires thinks we mere Peninsulans should let our lawns die--not realizing the trees live on the lawns and drink the same irrigation. I know, it's complicated for someone who spends their day stepping over discarded hypodermic needles and broken glass. But wait, there's more. The "toilet to tap" trope rolls out with a new twist. We get to be the City's septic tank:
Water recycling for potable use presents technical and legal challenges. It generally demands pumping treated sewage into the ground, pulling it out and treating it again before delivering it to customers. The Peninsula has storage capacity for this that San Francisco largely lacks. Demanding better water conservation from neighbors while partnering on sustainable projects will be a tough needle to thread. Thankfully, Herrera has signaled that he’s up to the challenge. San Francisco residents need him to mean it.
I love that "neighbors" part. With neighbors like EssEff we should all be getting Dobermans and an extra lock. With what else they are exporting we should all be getting an extra lock anyway. SF can build luxury senior living penthouses that rent for $324,000 a year with rooftop pools, but the poop should be filtered on the Peninsula. You should read the rest of the EssEff BeeEss in the editorial--I don't have the heart to quote all of the "outflow".
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