BAWSCA supports the SFPUC’s cautious management of the limited water supply and the timely and prudent call for customers’ continued conservation of water and further reductions in water use as we go into the hot summer season.

In summary, there is cause for concern.

* March precipitation was 75 percent less than average and April precipitation was about 25 percent less than average.
* The April 1st snow pack is less than half of average.
* If no further rainfall occurs, this will be the 15th driest year in the last 88 years.
* Water currently available to the City is only 20% of normal for this time of year and most of the wet months are behind us.
* The system’s reservoirs in the Sierras are projected to fill by June. However, there will be little water stored as snow in the Sierras.
* The limited supply may represent the first year of a drought.
* A 10 percent system-wide reduction in water use may be necessary to preserve the limited supply and avoid significant water use reductions next year.

Like San Francisco, 19 of BAWSCA’s 27 agencies rely on San Francisco’s regional water system for over 90 percent of the supply for their residents, businesses and community organizations. The remaining agencies get a portion of their supply from other sources of water that may or may not be affected by the current dry conditions.

In 2005-06, the average water use per person throughout the 27 agencies was 88 gallons per person per day. That’s 15 percent lower than in 1986-87, prior to the last drought, and 23 percent lower than in 1976-77.

Of the water used by the 27 agencies, about 60 percent is used by 1.7 million residents and 40 percent by businesses and community organizations.

By Art Jensen — Special To The Bee
Published September 7, 2004

The Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency (BAWSCA), created in 2003 by 28 cities, water districts and water companies, and the 1.7 million water users it represents are very interested in the discussions taking place about the proposal to drain Hetch Hetchy reservoir.

The agency represents those districts that depend on Hetch Hetchy that are outside the city limits of San Francisco. These are water districts in San Mateo, Santa Clara and Alameda counties.

We believe there should be broad public debate about this matter, and we want to be part of it. The health, safety and economic well-being of our agencies’ customers are the underlying reasons for the state legislation that enabled BAWSCA’s formation, and currently the Hetch Hetchy water supply is directly related to meeting those objectives.

Below is our position on the issue:

• Draining the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir to provide increased recreational opportunities in Yosemite National Park, one of America’s great natural resources, is an idea that should be discussed by all interested parties.
• A central issue for 2.4 million residents, businesses and community organizations, including schools, in Alameda, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties is their health, safety and economic well-being. They depend on the Hetch Hetchy system for all or most of their water.
• Before proposals to drain the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir can be considered seriously, the affected parties and their government representatives, who are empowered to make such decisions, would have to be assured of the availability of an alternate, reliable supply of equally high-quality water at a similar fair price.
• Consideration of this idea should be an open process involving all stakeholders. Since final action will be in the hands of local, state and federal officials, they should be part of this process.
• Meanwhile, San Francisco’s capital improvement program to rebuild the regional water system should proceed with all possible speed. The antiquated, earthquake-vulnerable water system must be fixed so that water can be delivered to customers and protect communities, regardless of the source of water. This is literally a matter of public health and safety.

About the Writer

Art Jensen is general manager of the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency. Reach him at bawsca@bawsca.org. Web site: www.bawsca.org.

Publication Date: Wednesday, July 14, 2004
By Marion Softky
Almanac Staff Writer

Two years after the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approved a $3.6 billion plan to upgrade the dilapidated Hetch-Hetchy system that provides water to 2.4 million people in four counties, suburban water agencies are getting nervous that not much seems to be happening.

“We must act to eliminate the risk for a human and economic catastrophe, if this system fails,” Redwood City Councilman Ira Ruskin told San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom at a meeting June 28. “We look to you now for leadership.”

Read more at The Almanac.

Suburban users call for more oversight
Katia Hetter, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 30, 2004

A group of suburban water users, who two years ago tried to wrestle away from San Francisco control over the regionally vital Hetch Hetchy waterworks, is again calling into question the competence of the city’s management of the system.

In a scathing three-page written statement released Tuesday, the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency, an association of water agencies serving residents and businesses in San Mateo, Santa Clara and Alameda counties, called on San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to step into a perceived leadership vacuum at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the city agency responsible for the Sierra-fed, city-owned Hetch Hetchy water and power system.

Read more at the San Francisco Chronicle.