Wednesday, March 23, 2005
By Edward Carpenter
Daily News Staff Writer

Independent auditors will be hired to double-check San Francisco Public Utilities Commission calculations regarding the increasing costs of the Hetch Hetchy Water System overhaul, Bay Area water officials said yesterday.

“I do have some questions,” said Art Jensen, general manager of the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency. “I’m going to have two outside experts review it.” The agency represents 28 Bay Area governments and water districts outside San Francisco, including San Mateo County. The 80-year-old system, which delivers water to about 2.5 million Bay Area residents from near Yosemite, is vulnerable to earthquakes and could leave the region without water for as long as 60 days if were to break, officials have said.

Jensen said that input from the auditors would help convince him that the methodology, factors and costs of the utility commission proposal are sound or that there are questions that need to be explored further.

The announcement that the Conservation Agency will hire the two auditors comes the same day that the commission released the most detailed breakdown yet of the nearly $1 billion in additional costs announced Feb. 8, raising the total cost from about $3.6 billion to more than $4.3 billion.

As reported in the Daily News Monday, Jensen, along with Conservation Agency board members, have continued to take the utilities commission–the agency heading up the Hetch Hetchy Water System rebuild–to task for its lack of clarity and openness regarding the cost and time it will take to complete the project. The utilities commission took a major step in trying to assuage critics yesterday by voting to raise San Francisco water rates by 15 percent both in the current year and coming year to help pay off the bond debt for the rebuild.

“It’s us honoring our commitment to step forward and issue the bonds for the rebuild,” said Tony Winnicker, commission spokesman, describing the vote.

San Francisco residents, on average, will pay about $1.10 more per month for water under the new rates, officials said.

Ken Garcia
Monday, January 24, 2005

THERE WERE MANY dire predictions about potential waste, delays and cost overruns when San Francisco voters went to the polls two years ago to vote on fixing the aging Hetch Hetchy water system. Some people must get tired of being right.

Rebuilding the Bay Area’s most intricate water-delivery system is proving, so far, to be a challenge for San Francisco’s much-maligned Public Utilities Commission. How daunting is it? Well, some people are likening it to the Bay Bridge retrofit, which is now entering its 15th anniversary with a statewide battle going on over the design and the projected cost soaring by billions.

Read more at the San Francisco Chronicle.

January 22, 2005
By Christine Morente
STAFF WRITER

Twelve San Mateo and Santa Clara county residents filed an injunction against the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to stop using chloramine or at least provide a permanent filtration system for their homes.

The group, who call themselves the Concerned Citizens Against Chloramine, filed Friday at San Francisco City Hall, seeking unspecified damages.

“We feel at this point, the (SFPUC) are absolutely adamant that they’re not going to take this stuff out of the water,” said David Heran, a San Bruno resident. Chloramine aggravates his asthma, he said. “We have a group here with problems and health issues that are not going away.”

Ever since chloramine — a combination of chlorine and ammonia — was added into the Hetch Hetchy water system, county residents have complained of rashes and respiratory problems. Many are staying away from the water.

“I’ve had an unbelievable proportion of problems with the water,” said Menlo Park resident Denise Johnson-Kula, who also suffers from respiratory problems. last year, she filed a similar complaint against the SFPUC, but her case was dismissed. “It’s like living in a Third World country — going to the well, cleaning under your arms and that’s it. The impact on my life is severe.”

The group wants the SFPUC to stop putting in chloramine and start studying it through dermal and inhalant testing. Johnson-Kula and her group is waiting to hear back from the SFPUC.

SFPUC Spokesman Tony Winnicker said he hasn’t read the claims yet, but will work with the city attorney to follow the case. He does maintain that chloramine is safe but takes their concerns seriously.

“There is a certain percentage of the population who have skin issues and people all over the country have been drinking water with chloramine for years,” Winnicker said. “It’s widely respected and researched by the Environmental Protection Agency, and the state Department of Health.”

Anyone who is experiencing skin or respiratory problems or has questions is asked to call Johnson-Kula at (650) 328-0424.

Staff writer Christine Morente can be reached at (650) 348-4333 or at cmorente@sanmateocountytimes.com.