Owned by San Francisco, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite
National Park provides water to nearly 3 million people in 29
cities across the San Francisco Bay Area. The water, provided by
snowmelt via the Tuolumne River, does not require filtration.
Stored in Hetch Hetchy Reservoir behind O’Shaughnessy Dam, the
water is delivered by a gravity based system and aqueduct to the
Bay Area.
Hetch Hetchy has generated controversy since it was first
proposed as a source of water following the 1906 San Francisco
earthquake. Congress also had to approve the project because it
was located in a national park. John Muir and the Sierra Club
unsuccessfully fought the reservoir’s establishment since it
required flooding a scenic mountain valley. After its
construction in the 1920s, various groups have lobbied to restore
the Hetch Hetchy Valley to its natural state.
Several environmental groups asked San Francisco on Tuesday to
reduce its diversion of Tuolumne River water. They said chinook
salmon and other wildlife suffer from the current operations,
especially the river stretch in and near Modesto. At a meeting
of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the groups
urged more conservation and wastewater recycling. The agency
responded that these “single-issue activists” do not understand
the city’s needs. San Francisco secured rights in 1913 to about
an eighth of the Tuolumne, which arises at about 13,000 feet in
Yosemite National Park. Most of the water diversion is at Hetch
Hetchy Reservoir, built just inside the western park boundary
to the dismay of early preservationists.
The recently announced closure of the salmon fishing season
delivered yet another devastating blow to the thousands of
families that depend on commercial and recreational fishing for
their livelihoods. For the second year in a row, fishing boats
at Fisherman’s Wharf will remain mothballed. The recent drought
contributed to the salmon decline, but the larger problem is
archaic water policies that allow too much water to be diverted
from our rivers and the Delta. As a result, salmon experience
manmade droughts almost every year, and the droughts we notice
become mega-droughts for fish. … California desperately needs
water reform, but strong opposition has come from what might
seem like an unlikely suspect. The San Francisco Public
Utilities Commission, which manages our Hetch Hetchy Water
System, is one of the worst culprits when it comes to poor
stewardship of our aquatic ecosystems. -Written by Peter Drekmeier, Policy Director for
the Tuolumne River Trust; and Scott Artis; Executive
Director of the Golden State Salmon Association.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday announced
the first federal limits on PFAS — manmade “forever
chemicals” linked to cancer, organ damage and other health
issues — in the nation’s drinking water. The regulation,
which was initially proposed in 2023, requires water systems to
reduce levels of six of the most studied types of PFAS to
the lowest levels that can be reliably measured with
testing. … The Bay Area’s drinking water generally
has low levels of PFAS because large water systems in the
region get most of their drinking water from pristine sources
in the Sierra or local reservoirs in regional parks, according
to researchers who study toxic chemicals in drinking water. The
city of San Francisco, for instance, gets most of its water
from Hetch Hetchy, a reservoir north of Yosemite Valley.
Water as a renewable resource is depicted in this 18×24 inch
poster. Water is renewed again and again by the natural
hydrologic cycle where water evaporates, transpires from plants,
rises to form clouds, and returns to the earth as precipitation.
Excellent for elementary school classroom use.
A new look for our most popular product! And it’s the perfect
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Our 24×36 inch California Water Map is widely known for being the
definitive poster that shows the integral role water plays in the
state. On this updated version, it is easier to see California’s
natural waterways and man-made reservoirs and aqueducts
– including federally, state and locally funded
projects – the wild and scenic rivers system, and
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California’s natural environment, rivers, water projects,
wildlife, and urban and agricultural uses and the
text focuses on key issues: water supply, water use, water
projects, the Delta, wild and scenic rivers and the Colorado
River.
Hetch Hetchy – a Sierra Miwok word for a type of wild grass
– is a valley in Yosemite National Park whose river was
dammed to create a water supply for the San Francisco Bay
Area. The O’Shaughnessy Dam on the Tuolumne River forms Hetch Hetchy
Reservoir.
Owned by the city of San Francisco, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir
provides water to 2.7 million residents and businesses in the San
Francisco Bay Area.