The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is continuing its history of doing its own thing by declining to cooperate with others even when there is opportunity for mutual benefit.
The SFPUC has opted out the California Department of Water Resources’ Flood-MAR (managed aquifer recharge) Reconnaissance Study of the Tuolumne River watershed. Flood-MAR is a statewide effort to identify the potential benefits of cooperative groundwater recharge. DWR has completed a study of the Merced River watershed and is proceeding to analyze other important Sierra watersheds.
We get it – “DWR’s Flood-MAR Reconnaissance Studies” is a wonky term, but it is critically important effort for all Californians.
We will be asking the SFPUC to consider and, if it continues to decline, we will ask DWR to proceed with comprehensive analysis of the Tuolumne River with publicly available data.
DWR’s graphic illustrating some of the benefits of groundwater recharge.
The Flood-MAR studies are simply studies, and will carry neither mandates nor even recommendations for implementation. Rather, the Flood-MAR studies will provide information to the public, water agencies and decision-makers for consideration. There is no downside to better information.
Cooperative groundwater recharge, in the Tuolumne watershed and elsewhere, has substantial potential to improve water supply reliability for farms, cities and vulnerable communities, to reduce groundwater overdraft and land subsidence, and to provide upstream and downstream environmental benefits. On the Tuolumne, recharging groundwater has the potential to replace the water storage benefits of the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.
It is essential that all of Flood-MAR Reconnaissance Studies be true watershed studies. We must know what is possible so we can work together to manage our limited water supplies as efficiently and effectively as possible. Allowing major stakeholders to opt out will result in the omission of major benefits and undermine public confidence in the overall process.
Restore Hetch Hetchy will be working with the Department of Water Resources, the SFPUC if it is willing, and others to ensure that the Flood-MAR analysis of the Tuolumne River is as complete as possible.
Note: This blog post is a bit thick with detail, chronicling a record of Restore Hetch Hetchy’s written communications with the National Park Service since release of our Keeping Promises report. Peruse at your leisure, but it will take some time to digest the many attachments if you are interested.
When San Francisco pleaded with Congress for unprecedented authorization to dam and flood Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park, it promised and Congress expected that the area would welcome park visitors. Camping, boating and fishing would be available. There was no hint that the entrance to our national park would close daily, or that Hetch Hetchy would be the one area of Yosemite not served by public transportation.
As a result of these unkept promises, the Hetch Hetchy area receives barely one percent of Yosemite’s visitors, while a reservation system limits access to the rest of the park during much of the year.
Moreover, park visitors who are discouraged from going to Hetch Hetchy never see its granite monoliths and roaring waterfalls or learn its full story, and are thus less likely to support relocation of the reservoir and restoration of the valley to its natural splendor.
So, since publishing Keeping Promises, Restore Hetch Hetchy has met regularly with the National Park Service at Yosemite to advocate for improved access and additional recreational activities. These meetings have been friendly, cooperative and somewhat productive, but we have realized that more needs to be done to improve the visitor experience – even with the dam and reservoir in place.
Below is a chronological summary of our written correspondence with the National Park Service that has been interspersed with our meetings. We have asked for many improvements – some of which are good public policy and others required by law.
We are waiting for a promised written response to our assertion that certain current policies, including the prohibitions on boating and fishing and the daily gate closures are outside the law, violate the Raker Act and other laws. We are hoping very much that the National Park Service will willingly and enthusiastically make needed changes.
Below is a chronological record of (most of) our written correspondence over the past year.
Restore Hetch Hetchy letter to YNP and SFPUC re 2023 MOA renewal 2023-06-19 – The MOA (Memorandum of Understanding) between San Francisco and the National park Service is renewed every four years, and reflects San Francisco’s obligation to pay for security and watershed protection at Hetch Hetchy. Restore Hetch Hetchy asserts that elements of the document go beyond what the Raker Act allows.
Petition to Improve Public Access to the Hetch Hetchy Area of Yosemite National Park 2023-09-25– Last September we filed a petition, in the form of a letter to Superintendent of Yosemite Cicely Muldoon, Director of the National Park Service Chuck Sams, Secretary of Interior Deborah Haaland and Interior Solicitor Robert Anderson. The Petition includes the elements of Keeping Promises as well as others such as handicap access and interpretation.
Restore Hetch Hetchy letter to NPS re proposed MOA with SFPUC 2024-1-24 – After meeting with the National Park Service in January, our concerns over renewal of its MOA with San Francisco were heightened. We also wrote to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, and have spoken publicly at Commission hearings on the issues, receiving hostile feedback from both staff and Commission members.
2024-02-27 RHH – MOA Response from NPS – The National Park Service replied to our January letter, explaining that it made some changes to the document based on our comments, but that it was proceeding with and expected to sign a new MOA as drafted. Restore Hetch Hetchy maintains that certain elements of the document, including any reference to San Francisco’s filtration exemption, are unwarranted and possibly illegal.
Restore Hetch Hetchy letter to Yosemite NP re interpretation at Hetch Hetchy 2024-5-17 – We explain the many ways that information provided to visitors at Hetch Hetchy is insufficient and/or inaccurate. We assert the NPS has no business distributing San Francisco’s “brochure” – a piece of propaganda that includes unwarranted, misleading and inaccurate statements.
Restore Hetch Hetchy letter to NPS regarding visitor restrictions at Hetch Hetchy Reservoir 2024-5-20 – While we appreciate working with the NPS, we are impatient with progress to date. This most recent letter makes our view of certain NPS legal obligations abundantly clear, stating in part “There is therefore no legal basis for restricting human-powered boating or fishing at Hetch Hetchy Reservoir based on water quality considerations. Nor do the Raker Act’s water quality restrictions provide authority for the National Park Service to limit access through the Hetch Hetchy entrance to Yosemite National Park.”
We are very much looking forward to the promised written response from the National Park Service, especially to our most recent letter, to continued constructive engagement to improve access at Hetch Hetchy, and to the ultimate restoration of the valley.
It is always special to share extraordinary landscapes like Hetch Hetchy with others. We had an opportunity to do that last week with three Colorado University graduate students who were visiting as part of a “Capstone” research project. (The students, supervised by their professors, are doing a two-part project for Restore Hetch Hetchy: (1) a water taste test to compare how people perceive San Francisco’s water compared to that of other Bay Area water agencies, and (2) a comparison of recreational opportunities available at municipal water supply reservoirs in western states. We’ll talk further about this research when it is further along.)
The Capstone Team from Colorado University with Executive Director Spreck Rosekrans, cooling off at Wapama Falls. (Photo: Isabella Rosekrans)
The trail to Wapama is typically hot in June, as it lies in full sun against granite cliffs on the north side of the reservoir. We got a reasonably early start after a short tour of the meager “campground”, the cabins where San Francisco’s elite stay, the boat ramp (currently under repair) and the dam.
The students were excited to be in California and, after several months of anticipation, to see Hetch Hetchy for the first time. They knew its history and have learned much about how the water system works, as well as Restore Hetch Hetchy’s efforts to return the valley to its natural splendor while meeting the water and power needs of all who rely on the Tuolumne River.
Wapama Falls was flowing at about 500 cubic feet per second – a perfect flow, high enough to get soaking wet from the spray of the falls but not so high as to make crossing the bridges treacherous. (The flow at Wapama is measure by a hidden gage atop the falls and posted in real time on the California Data Exchange Center (CDEC) website.
The walk back was hot indeed, especially after the first mile when our clothes had dried out. We mused about strolling instead across a shaded valley after the reservoir was relocated, and we also discussed Restore Hetch Hetchy’s proposal for a trail to the top of the falls.
After visiting Hetch Hetchy, the Capstone Team spent a day in Yosemite Valley, before returning to the Bay Area to initiate the water taste test. (Again, more on that later after additional data has been collected and analyzed.)
Also, we had an opportunity to visit Hetch Hetchy at dawn for the first time. (At our behest, National Park Service has expanded the hours when it is permissible to go to Hetch Hetchy.) We entered the park at first light and drove the narrow road without seeing any other cars. The cliffs and waterfalls were sublime as the sun slowly rose over the canyon – the reservoir less so. We’ll need to stay for the sunset next time.
Earlier this week, the San Francisco Chronicle predicted that Yosemite’s waterfalls would reach their peak flows in early June. We will see if that’s the case, or whether the flows reached in mid-May will remain the highest of the 2024 snowmelt season.
Either way it is a spectacular time to be in Yosemite. When the water is high, the “Mist Trail” to Vernal Falls nomenclature is misleading. The “mist” is an icy torrent shooting upwards – perhaps welcome and exhilarating on a hot day but a bit intimidating and possibly dangerous as well.
Wapama Falls at Hetch Hetchy is a twisting torrent unlike any other in Yosemite, reminiscent of braided hair being continuously unraveled in the wind. The first bridge at Wapama, however is treacherous to cross at high water – hikers have been swept off to their deaths. The National Park Service has not yet replaced the bridge as planned but hopes to do so later this year. (This long overdue project is funded by San Francisco as constructing the trail past Wapama was mandated by the 1913 Raker Act which allowed the City to dam and flood Hetch Hetchy Valley.)
The westernmost bridge (see “B” in photo) at Wapama is treacherous to cross when the falls are at their most spectacular.
Yosemite and Hetch Hetchy Valleys are both about 8 miles long, but Hetch Hetchy is much narrower. The Tuolumne River watershed, however, is larger than the Merced River watershed so the Tuolumne carries more water. Thus, a larger river in a narrower valley once and will again stand out in that valley more so than the Merced River does in Yosemite Valley.
Both the Tuolumne River and the Merced River double in size (more or less) as they pass through Hetch Hetchy and Yosemite Valleys respectively. Within Hetch Hetchy, the Tuolumne River is also fed by Rancheria, Tiltill and Falls Creeks (Wapama Falls). Merced River inflows to Yosemite Valley are measured at the Happy Isles Bridge (below Vernal Falls), and augmented by Tenaya Creek, Yosemite Creek (Yosemite Falls) and other streams before tumbling over cataracts at the valley’s western end.
There is no way to measure Yosemite Falls, but its watershed and elevation are similar in size (~44 square miles) to that of Wapama Falls, so it is reasonable to assume that their flows are similar.
All of Yosemite is spectacular 365 days a year, but if you love thundering waterfalls now is the time to go.
Our spring newsletter is in mailboxes and posted online!. If you haven’t received a printed copy but would like one, let us know.
First a quick update: The National Park Service has told us that it is working on a written response to our legal assertions that human-powered boating and fishing at Hetch Hetchy MUST be allowed and that visitors MUST be allowed to pass through the entrance gate at any time of day. We are looking forward to this response. We will not speculate what it might say, but we do fully intend to keep the pressure on so Hetch Hetchy will be as attractive to visitors as possible.
A few additional thoughts about dams: The impending removal of Scott (storage) and Cape Van Horn (diversion) Dams on the Eel River is a project to watch closely. Like O’Shaughnessy Dam & Hetchy Hetchy Reservoir (and unlike the Klamath Dams), the Eel River Dams are part of a water supply system. The Sonoma County Water Agency may still be able to divert some of the river’s flow at Cape Van Horn, but it will not be able to rely on water stored at Lake Pillsbury. Similarly, when Hetch Hetchy is restored, the river’s flow can still be diverted into the Canyon Tunnel as it leaves Hetch Hetchy Valley.
Lake Pillsbury will be gone. We don’t know whether some of the Eel’s flow will still be diverted south to the Russian River watershed.
And please join us at our annual dinner on October 26 at the (easily accessible) Lafayette Veterans Memorial Center. We’re thrilled that Pulitzer Prize winner Tom Philp will join us. Tom is passionate about Hetch Hetchy and thoughtful about the path to restoration. You’ll love him.
