Spreck Rosekrans came to us August 21st, 2014 to make the case for restoring Hetch Hetchy from reservoir to valley. The dam just passed its 100th anniversary in 2013, but what was hugely controversial at that time (more than 200 newspapers opposed, and John Muir famously broken-hearted by the decision) is now something of which most San Franciscans are proud.
Spreck spent only a little of his time on the “why” of making the effort. We lost this special place, and many people regretted the choice to dam it at the time, and today we have a chance to correct that mistake and restore an iconic place. To do that would show not just values, but also show that we can make meaningful water reform (not something that seems to come easily to Californians). The arguments (which Spreck also layed out) against it are many — people feel that the water is SF’s birthright, that Hetch Hetchy was a swamp, that we are actually protecting the valley, and there’s hydro power from the dam, the cost of removing it, and that we need more storage not less.
The main thrust of the talk was on the practical question of: if we removed the dam, how would we actually supply the water coming into the pipes of the 2.4 million people? It is not a pie-in-the-sky, wishy-washy notion as one might first think. EDF hired 2 mainstream engineering firms, and one law firm to look into what it would take (this resulted in a publication called Paradise Regained — the summary on this page gives a pretty good idea of what is proposed).
The amount of water involved is not the biggest. Of 5 big water projects over the last 22 years, Hetch Hetchy would involve less water than 4 (Delta ESA work, Central Valley wetlands, Trinity River, and rivers in the Central Valley). It would mean juggling water from various sources, doing what is known as “water banking”, taking more from the Cherry reservoir. Looking at the dry years, that kind of work (with the removal of the dam) would get is to around 80%.
The last 20% would take working to be more efficient with the water we have, from farming practices, to recycling, to just plain using less. These are things that of course are not easy, but they are things that we can do — and given current state of our reservoirs maybe things we will have to do anyway. At the end of the day though, we could have our cake and eat it too.
Hetch Hetchy left alone will be with us a long time – unlike other dams, silt does not seem to be a great problem there. Choosing to restore the valley to its former glory would no doubt have its complications and difficulties, but that choice is not just a fantasy.
SF Natural History Series 