Both articles are short but on point – noting the unprecedented history of allowing a dam in a national park, and that sharply increased demand across its Regional Water System makes it far easier for San Francisco to do the right thing – to relinquish the reservoir so the valley can be restored.
There is widespread support for restoration (see below, for example), albeit to date reluctance to address the issue in Congress and resistance among officials in San Francisco. This needs to change. Hetch Hetchy can be restored and San Francisco can get all the water it needs from the Tuolumne River. It’s a win-win. We are hopeful that time may be right for the San Francisco Mayor and Congress to take advantage of the opportunity at hand.
In 2019, Probolsky Research, an independent firm, asked the following question of 903 respondents:
California’s Yosemite National Park once included two glacier-carved valleys – Yosemite Valley along the Merced River and Hetch Hetchy Valley along the Tuolumne River. In 1913, Congress allowed San Francisco to dam Hetch Hetchy Valley and turn it into a reservoir for the City.
Should Yosemite National Park’s Hetch Hetchy Valley be restored, if it can be accomplished without impacting San Francisco’s water supply?
With sharply reduced demand over the past decade, San Francisco can meet its full water demands without storing water in Hetch Hetchy Reservoir – simply by connecting Cherry Reservoir to its conveyance system!
This finding is the conclusion of our groundbreaking new report: Restoring Hetch Hetchy: The Cherry Solution. Since Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is no longer needed to provide water to San Francisco and its customers, the original justification for allowing a reservoir in Yosemite National Park is invalid. The reservoir should be emptied and the valley restored.
The Cherry Solution is short, but rich in detail and based on detailed hydrologic modeling. Restore Hetch Hetchy invites supporters, skeptics and opponents alike to give it a hard look. More information about the report is posted on the Cherry Solution page.
San Francisco owns and stores water in Cherry and Eleanor Reservoirs, but does not deliver those supplies to its customers. Under our proposal, the City would install a short intertie which would allow both full water deliveries and the return of Hetch Hetchy Valley to its natural splendor.
We have sent The Cherry Solution to all members of Congress as well as to a plethora of officials in San Francisco and other Bay Area cities – accompanied by letters cosigned by former Secretary of the Interior Donald P. Hodel, former State Senator Lois Wolk and Robert Hanna – great great grandson of John Muir. The report, letters and other information are posted on our Cherry Solution page. If you’d like a hard copy but haven’t received one let us know by email to admin@hetchhetchy.org.
The Cherry Solution is a relatively simple fix. Until recently, Restore Hetch Hetchy has advocated that San Francisco pursue supplies via groundwater banking, recycling, new reservoirs, transfers and conservation (See, for example, Yosemite’s Opportunity). But with substantially reduced demand, none of those options are necessary.
It’s time for Congress and San Francisco to work cooperatively to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley and make Yosemite National park whole again.
On Saturday, May 2, 2026, join staff and board members as we visit Hetch Hetchy. It’s a great time of year to see the canyon and hike out to Wapama Falls (or as far as you’d like to go) and have dinner at the Evergreen Lodge.
Last year was wonderful – even though we had to dodge a few snowflakes. We are expecting a warmer weekend but can’t promise!
The Evergreen is a great place to stay – though it is pricey and a two night minimum is required during May (use the code RHH26 will get a small discount).
Whether you stay at the Evergreen or not, let us know if you’d like to join us – email admin@hetchhetchy.org or spreck@hetchhetchy.org. We will send details later but we do plan to be at the lodge both Friday and Saturday evening and to spend most of the day Saturday at Hetch Hetchy.
DEMAND FOR WATER IS DOWN
Water use in the San Francisco Regional Water System is down. The average consumption in San Francisco and among its “suburban” customers has decreased 19% over the last decade, from 273 thousand acre-feet per year (TAF) to 220 TAF – 19%. See Figure 2 below.
The 19% decrease is perhaps even more surprising compared to San Francisco’s projections. 20 years ago the City projected its total system water use would be 339 TAF – so today’s use is more than a third below what the City thought it might be.
San Francisco itself uses only about 1/3 of the water provided by its Regional Water System. 2/3 of the water is used by its customers, organized as the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency (BAWSCA), including Palo Alto, Hayward, San Mateo etc. (Groveland and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are small customers not represented at BAWSCA.)
In December the Sierra Club wrote to BAWSCA comparing its actual water use with its projections. See below. The chart shows six projections – all increasing over time while actual use decreases. (The figures are in millions of gallons per day (MGD) and reflect the agencies’ total use including sources other than the San Francisco Regional Water System.)
The bottom line here is that the plethora of water storage within the San Francisco Regional Water System is not necessary to meet its demand. Water storage was the justification for damming Hetch Hetchy Valley a century ago, but that justification is no longer valid. It is time for san Francisco to relinquish Hetch Hetchy reservoir and to restore the valley.
Our 2025 Fall Newsletter has gone to mailboxes and is available online. If you’d like a hardcopy but haven’t received one, let us know by emailing admin@hetchhetchy.org.
We are planning to make expanded use of our water taste testsoon, as well as provide a new approach to water and power alternatives. Stay posted. Also, We had to cancel meetings with the National Park Service due to the government shutdown – bad timing, but we will be rescheduling soon.
It was great to catch up with Secretary Donald P. Hodel in October. Hodel proposed restoring Hetch Hetchy in 1987 and remains a strong supporter. He is looking forward to more good news in 2026.
Former Secretary of the Interior Donald P. Hodel with RHH Executive Director Spreck Rosekrans – October 2025.
We have two events planned in 2026. Details will come soon, but save the dates now if you are interested.
On Saturday, May 2, 2026, join staff and board members as we visit Hetch Hetchy. It’s a great time of year to see the canyon and hike out to Wapama Falls (or as far as you’d like to go) and have dinner at the Evergreen Lodge.
On Saturday, October 17, we will have our annual dinner at the Lafayette Veterans Memorial Center. Please join us.
Also, please consider supporting Restore Hetch Hetchy’s Giving Tuesday Match– we are about halfway there! All gifts up to a total of $10,000, received between November 18 and December 2, will be matched 1:1 = 100% by a generous $10,000 match from an anonymous RHH donor. Our goal for Giving Tuesday is $20,000.
At an October 28 Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (DWP) Board of Commissioners meeting, President Richard Katz lauded progress on the construction of the City’s water recycling plant and declared ”Once the recycled water starts flowing, we won’t need Mono Lake water to meet the supplies in LA.”
Kudos to the Mono Lake Committee for their perseverance. The struggle, to reduce diversions and allow the lake to refill to sustainable levels that support so many migratory bird populations, has been a bit of a roller coater ride ever since the landmark 1994 State Water Board public trust ruling. The prospect of eliminating all diversions is especially appealing – hopefully they will remove all infrastructure and thus eliminate any temptation to resume operations.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is far behind the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power in undoing damage to prized mountain habitats. Indeed, the SFPUC barely acknowledges its legacy in being the only city in the United States to destroy part of a national park.
Recycling water on a large scale is relatively new. San Diego gets credit for leading the way. There are many steps in the process, but the core technology is the same as for desalination – “reverse osmosis” nanofilters. Recycling, however, requires far less energy than desalination because the source water has a much lower salt content. Substantial recycling plants are under construction in San Jose and Orange County, as well as in Los Angeles and San Diego – San Francisco and other Bay Area cities could do the same (see Yosemite’s Opportunity, Restore Hetch Hetchy, 2022).
San Diego’s “Pure Water” recycling plant
Recycling is indeed an option for the SFPUC, and would help reduce noxious effluent being dumped into San Francisco Bay as well. As Yosemite’s Opportunity explains, groundwater banking or enlarging Calaveras Reservoir are also options San Francisco might pursue. System demand, however, has been substantially reduced, and there are a wide range of things San Francisco can do to ensure its customers have reliable supplies when Hetch Hetchy Valley is restored.
It’s inspiring to see the success at Mono Lake. San Francisco surely will not want to be outdone by Los Angeles, will it?
It’s always wonderful to hear how people respond to Yosemite for the first time and it was especially rewarding to hear Governor Gavin Newsom describe the reaction of his moody 9 year old son when he saw the park for the first time. The child was suddenly eager to set aside his video game and explore, describing Yosemite as “majestic”. Hear the Governor’s description of this precious moment below.
The reverence our Governor and his family have for Yosemite begs the question of how he feels about Hetch Hetchy and especially our campaign for restoration.
Along with colleagues from the Environmental Defense Fund, we met with Newsom in 2004 when he was Mayor of San Francisco. We had prepared a “briefing book” that outlined water and power improvements necessary to keep the City whole. He listened respectfully, asked good questions and seemed intrigued but cautious. We hoped for the City’s cooperation in further investigations. When those stalled at the Board of Supervisors, we found interest at the State level.
Shortly after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger authorized the California Department of Water Resources to investigate the potential of restoring Hetch Hetchy, we received a copy of a letter from Newsom and Senator Dianne Feinstein. They had written to the Governor asking him to stop the investigation (an identical letter was sent to Secretary of Interior Gail Norton). The letter described us as “well-intentioned” and included a rather amusing error – asserting that Hetch Hetchy is in Yosemite Valley!
We chose to believe that the letter was written at the behest of Feinstein, a legendary defender of the status quo at Hetch Hetchy, and that Newsom was pressured to co-sign. Subsequent conversations with Newsom indicated a certain personal intrigue with restoring Hetch Hetchy. On the eve of his election as Governor, however, he noted to a group of environmental supporters that he would be unlikely to favor restoration.
Then Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom with Executive Director Spreck Rosekrans at the groundbreaking for Yosemite’s Mariposa Grove project in 2018.
Gavin Newsom is one of a number of politicians who have overtly or implicitly conveyed a personal interest in restoration. But few have publicly supported restoration. (Congressman John Garamendi is an exception. When he wrote “As we encourage economic growth in California, we should also make a commitment to cherish and sustain our natural heritage. I can think of no better way than restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley for our children and grandchildren”, he was quickly rebuked by Senator Feinstein.)
We continue to look for elected officials with the courage and vision to stand up for Hetch Hetchy and for all Yosemite, and we continue to build support to make it easier for them to do so. The prescient words of David Brower come to mind:
“Politicians are like weather vanes. Our job is to make the wind blow.”
Please help Restore Hetch Hetchy make the wind blow.
