The liberal-leaning San Francisco Chronicle calls the idea "insane."
The proposal: a November ballot measure that would ultimately, if passed, move us closer to the idea of draining the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park.
The reservoir is the main water source for about 2.5 million Bay Area residents in San Francisco, on the Peninsula, and scattered throughout other parts of our immediate region.
On the Peninsula, we see the end result of water that flows from Hetch Hetchy along Interstate 280 at the Crystal Springs Reservoir.
This week, a conservation group called Restore Hetch Hetchy submitted more than 16,000 signatures from registered San Francisco voters in support of a ballot measure that would require a study of how to drain Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, and replace the water lost with other means.
Restore Hetch Hetchy quotes naturalist John Muir as saying the Hetch Hetchy Valley is “one of nature’s rarest and most precious mountain temples.”
The battle over Hetch Hetchy Valley is not new. The debate began in 1913 when the city of San Francisco won congressional approval to build O’Shaughnessy Dam, which buried the wilderness valley under some 300 feet of water ten years later, in 1923.
A 2006 California Department of Water report indicated the valley could be drained, but the cost would be extraordinary: somewhere between $3 billion and $10 billion.
If the ballot measure passes, what's not clear is how 2.5 million gallons of water - especially in dry, drought years - would be replaced.
Hetch Hetchy also produces about 300 megawatts of carbon-free hydroelectric power for the Bay Area.
Several area politicians, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, are critical of the the ballot measure, saying the region can't afford to drain the reservoir.
Restore Hetch Hetchy counters by stating "Modern engineering advances afford us the opportunity to remove the reservoir and create one of the most ambitious and exciting environmental restoration projects in human history. As a living laboratory, Hetch Hetchy will advance the science of restoration by providing biologists, ecologists and botanists from all over the world with the chance to apply cutting-edge science to re-establishing lost habitats."
What do you think? Should the Hetch Hetchy Valley be restored to its original state, and add to the beauty of Yosemite? Or is this a bad idea in this day of few dollars and large water needs?
Tell us in your comments, then vote in the poll below.
Then get out yer wallet Big Shot. Sheeze!
It will take decades to centuries for it to come back to a level 'similar' and not like it was before...it never will be like it was before. How much are you willing to pay for a desalination plant the size to replace the current water flow? Do you know that the higher salinity level (yes, the fresh water had it's salt tossed back into the sea water) in the area will adversely affect the life in there? Then the new power plant to run that desalination plant? Maybe a nuclear plant. Then where would they build that desalination plant? It will NOT be a small building Oh, how about all of the new plumbing to deliver that desalinated sea water? It would be logical to send it to the three lakes, but then they would have to dig up lots and lots of private property to lay in those new pipes. Then can anyone imagine the size of the pumps needed to pump that desalinated water from sea level up to Crystal Springs? Oh, there will be HUGE power requirements and maybe another nuclear plant(s). The current system is all gravity fed? Since all of that would cost money to build, would the cost of water to all increase along with the bond re-payments. Lots and lots of money and do you really think the public would pass such a series of bond measures? How's about the eminent domain properties ? New agencies? How many wrongs will make that old, old, old wrong a right ?
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Really? Is this how scientists think? or is it environmentalists? Or are they thinking at all?
This was exactly what i was searching for. Have been fighting for a while to do this, thanks for have posted
Get rid of that old dam at Hetch Hetchy and modernize the whole Tuolumne River water supply system! Vote Yes on Prop. F !
Join the majority and Vote No on Prop. F!
Lula's thinking would have all the buildings/highways/bridges/airplanes/cars/trains/etc replaced before their useful life span is reached.
The other issue is that the Cherry Lake damage HAS ALL READY BEEN DONE - 80 years ago. The species that became extinct in the area as a result (Brown Trout, and Giant Beavers) are NEVER coming back as they once were. I saw the beavers slowly dissappear on the Cherry Creek in the '70's. NOTHING will be improved except ACCESS to raftable rivers for the Southern California Crowd. This area is the closest potential rafting area for S. Cal; and THAT is where the money is coming from supporting this issue. This area DOESN'T NEED MORE PEOPLE. And yes, last August I hiked the area, and bears are at 5x what I've seen before. IF we lose 80% of Hetch Hetchy, WE will need water from the Rogue!
WOO HOO!