Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System The Hetch Hetchy watershed, an area located in Yosemite National Park, is the major source of water for all of San Francisco's water needs. Usually with warm ARs, you get a dramatic increase in inflow, which can fill even very large reservoirs relatively quickly, like Oroville in 2017. Restore Hetch Hetchys subsequent appeal to the ruling was Its important to note that other communities in California have taken actions in far greater magnitude than SF to make our waterways more sustainable. Hoping they start building more reservoirs soon. Thinking more about it. Thanks for taking the time to do that. Compared to the historical snowpack for this time of year, the May 2021 survey shows that we are only 2 to 5 percent of normal. Great stuff. In 2016, a Tuolumne County Superior Court judge dismissed the Hetch Hetchy water travels 160 miles via gravity from Yosemite to the San Francisco Bay Area. I have wanted to do exactly this plot for years. This site is a great tool, especially as we try to climb out of these drought years. So my question is, How do we know if we are saving the water for later release (late summer) or are we releasing it to the ocean? I live close to Eastman Lake. If you click on the list button in the top right of the dashboard, it will show a list of the reservoirs (in order of size from largest to smallest) and you can check which ones you would like to display. You dont see runoff right away, the snow is still up there, frozen, doing what we want it to do, he said. Much of the recent inflow was to Hetch Hetchy, which can hold. In Yosemite National Park, the Hetch Hetchy reservoir relies. Great resource! I also added the ability to select specific reservoirs to display on the graph and share a custom URL which will point those selected reservoirs (click on list button on top right of dashboard). But they'll cost you, Fight at high school basketball game in S.F. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. Assistant General Manager for Water Steven Ritchie credits the way the system is managed along with lower. Really appreciate the work you did to build this graph. I am grateful for all that you have done here to open our eyes to what is happening, what has happened, and even what might be on the horizon. I noticed that Folsom does not change whereas every reservoir changes on an hourly update. Even with all the rain and floods, still a long way to fill them to capacity. I wonder why it doesnt work for you. The remaining 15 percent of water comes from runoff in the Alameda and Peninsula watersheds. Different presidential administrations also have tried to address While forecasters can predict the likelihood of future rainfall over large areas, they cant pinpoint it to the degree needed to determine whether a particular watershed/reservoir will overflow and cause damage and loss of life. The Hetch Hetchy reservoir, which supplies water for San Francisco and other parts of the Bay Area, was at 77% of its 360,000-acre-feet storage capacity in January compared to 73% in December, and on Feb. 7, it was up to 82%. Could you also show each reservoirs level as a function of time? Just a wistful thought, it would be really cool to graph the water release statistics. The Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite delivers water to 2.6 million Bay Area residents every day. Id love to see how much water is being / has been released from these reservoirs. Exclusive: Stunning photos show Yosemite National Park under 15 feet of Warriors treating Andrew Wiggins with understandable patience, but his California snowpack hits highest level this century for March, could Map shows which parts of California exceeded entire years worth of rain, Map shows stunning improvement in California drought, Last chance to see: Bay Bridge lights turn off on Sunday. A different story is unfolding at Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite National Park, where water is being released to conserve and restore wildlife. Much of the recent inflow was to Hetch Hetchy, which can hold about 360,000 acre-feet of water and was 83% full at the start of the month. generates electricity for the city). Your Privacy Choices (Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads). If you look at this chart for Hetch Hetchy, you can see that the biggest and steadiest rise is between March and July, https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/11275500/#parameterCode=00054&period=P365D&compare=true. For example, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park provides 85 percent of San Francisco's total water needs. https://cdec.water.ca.gov/dynamicapp/QueryDaily?s=SHA Since June 2011, the Water Enterprise has operated the Citys Emergency Firefighting Water System (EFWS, formerly known as the Auxiliary Water Supply System (AWSS)), an independent, high-pressure water supply system for fire suppression. I do not see Diamond Valley Lake Resevoir on this page. Delivery rates are 7-day average values. Remaining Capacity text in the legend should be brown? ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. There doesnt seem to be any site that shows the impact of each storm. Congress had to approve the project because it was Love this. This is wonderful information. Your email address will not be published. Data have been checked by the reporting agency. Francisco Bay Area. The new 68-mile (109 km) railroad wound its way up the narrow canyon of the Tuolumne River past sharp curves and up steep 4% grades. Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Yoohyun Jung is the Deputy Data Editor for The San Francisco Chronicle. Having it here would be great! If you are on a computer, you can hover your cursor over a reservoir and the dashboard at the top will provide information about that individual reservoir. . Why is it not listed? These sources are diverse in both the origin of the supply snowmelt, rainfall and recharge of groundwater and their location within our system. The tremendous inflow to city reservoirs during the recent storms, mostly in and around Yosemite National Park, has lifted San Franciscos total water storage to near capacity. Copyright Barry Rokeach, 2014. Nice! In another sign that Californias drought is easing, San Francisco captured more than a years worth of water in just one months time. The OShaughnessy Dam i s 300 feet tall only medium-sized by todays standards. Ill pass it along to friends. This chart only shows reservoirs filled via natural flow/rainfall. This website along with another shows that Eastmans level is still rising even though we have not had rain in more than a week. She joined the Chronicle as a data reporter in 2021. Hi, I started by using this page (https://cdec.water.ca.gov/reportapp/javareports?name=RES) to determine which reservoirs to include and for some reason Almanor isnt on the list. How come the totals disagree with the cal map graphic? An improvement: Could you include a bar for Last year at this date? Hetch Hetchy has generated controversy since it was first Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Privacy Policy | 2011-2021 San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. The trail includes spectacular views of Tueeulala and Wapama Falls. a minimum, according to the San Francisco Public Utilities Current conditions of LAKE OR RESERVOIR WATER SURFACE ELEVATION ABOVE NAVD 1988, LAKE OR RESERVOIR WATER SURFACE ELEVATION ABOVE NGVD 1929, and RESERVOIR STORAGE are available. The Department of Water Resources, which manages the state's water supply, said in a statement that there are several possible reasons for the difference in inflow amounts between the two reservoirs. David Rizzardo, hydrology section manager for the California Department of Water Resources, said there are a lot of factors that affect reservoir storage. It does not meet the California definition of renewable energy. pertained to water that was wasted, and there was no claim that As of 5pm on 1/18, the data appears correct (~58k acre feet), but an hour ago it was reading off the chart (3X above what they are allowed to store right now). Wife of missing Bay Area radio host says Jeffrey Vandergrift will not Sen. Dianne Feinstein is hospitalized in San Francisco with shingles, California extends deadline to file 2022 income taxes to match IRS decision, Here's where California reservoir levels stand after this week's rains, Going to Tahoe this weekend? 2022 All Rights Reserved. Good info to know. 9 of 12 10 of 12 Hetch Hetchy Reservoir with Wapama Falls near Groveland, Calif. on Wednesday March 12, 2014, is currently at fifty percent of capacity. An official website of the United States government. The BAWSCA agencies are therefore key stakeholders in ensuring the system serves as a reliable source of high quality water. Thanks for putting this together. A wet December produced ample snowfall, which is still sitting at high elevations. Near the town of La Grange, the river exits the Sierra Nevada foothills and flows through a gently sloping alluvial valley that is incised into Pleistocene alluvial fans. This is my first year watching the levels, so maybe Im missing something. But they'll cost you, Fight at high school basketball game in S.F. located in a national park and it passed the Raker Act in 1913 to The OShaughnessy Dam, which was completed in 1938 and is 430-feet tall, impounds water in Hetch Hetchy Reservoir for communities in the Bay Area. That includes the Tuolumne River, which provides water via Hetch Hetchy Reservoir to Bay Area customers. The recent spate of storms lifted the statewide snowpack to 190% of average for the start of the month, and more snow is on the way. How can I match up other monitoring locations similar to the ones on this Interactive Dashboard? Rizzardo said there was a decent amount of flow into the reservoirs into January, even though weather-wise it was bone dry, a result of lower elevation snow at 4,000 to 6,000 feet making its way into the reservoirs. And early forecasts show the rest of the wet season is not likely to produce enough precipitation. Generation at the Kirkwood power plant would depend on the natural flow of the Tuolumne River, and would be significantly diminished during late summer and fall. This is a very clear graph and I cannot imagine the hours you have put in while setting it up and doing the maintenance. Official websites use .gov SFGATE took a look at reservoir levels three days after the Oct. 24 storm and below we take another look, examining water level rises and storage increases at a broader range of reservoirs roughly a week after the atmospheric river event. The proportion of blue to brown will show how full it is, while the red line shows the historical level that reservoir is typically at for this date of the water year. Commission. use must be reasonable.. San Franciscos water system, which includes Hetchy Hetchy, is expected to fill this winter for the first time since 2019. has a graph which shows how the historical avg changes throughout the year (oscillating between ~15000 and ~21000). Water is rapidly flowing into the state's reservoirs. Hetch-Hetchy predicted to fill by end of the snowmelt period 2020-2021 Winter season continues to be dry 2019-2020 was dry, although key differences Feb. 2020 was unusually warm, which impacted snowfall levels and water demands; Feb 2021 was cooler, and hence snowfall level higher and water use lower I know this might be difficult to display but Im very curious on the actual amounts of water consumed on a monthly basis and if this is somehow processed in a certain between what is agricultural and what is non-commercial etc? There is something strange about the data over the last two days (Jan.17 to Jan. 19): Take CA Highway 120 from the park toward Groveland. In response to the Bay-Delta Plan, the SFPUC and the Modesto and Turlock Irrigation Districts have proposed the Tuolumne River Voluntary Agreement, a combination of flow and non-flow measures sufficient to improve all life-stages of native fish populations in the lower Tuolumne River. Although Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is the most well-known, it stores less than 25% of the systems water. Hetchy Reservoir can store as much as 117 billion gallons for the Winter weather conditions may cause road closures. Spring snowmelt runs down the Tuolumne River and fills Hetch Hetchy, the largest reservoir in our water system. They placed a few dissipators just before the river. Is that a good thing? A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the Heres where California reservoir levels stand after this weeks rains. At the same time, theyve also said its critical to maintain sufficient water supplies to keep Bay Area communities and its economy running during a prolonged drought. For the class we based all our designs on the USACE spillway design manual. https://engaging-data.com/ca-reservoir-level/ I will take a look and see if there are other important reservoirs missing and may add them in the future. Lake Mendocino and Lake Berryessa water levels stayed the same. How Much Water is in California Reservoirs? Visualization was done in javascript and specifically the D3.js visualization library. BAWSCA agencies advocated for the capital improvement program that was adopted by the SFPUC in 2002, and are actively monitoring its implementation. It used to be full (and beyond). This is also affected by most of these dams multi-purpose nature where they are near constantly releasing for power(like Shasta) or to make room for flood control capacity(like Folsom). Water data back to 1956 are available online. It was at 60 percent as of March 1 and rising, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. The group says the recent plethora of water shows that the city could do without Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, by using other storage facilities that have filled and pursuing new projects to capture the surplus. } California reservoir levels: . Wapama Falls (moderate) 5 mi (8 km) round-trip; 2 hours. These graphs will always read low because they represent the percentage of the seasonal average at some point before the end of the season. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS This November, a group of environmental advocates will put forth a ballot measure that would require the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to develop a plan to drain Hetch Hetchy. "Some weather monitoring stations in the Feather River drainage received as much as 12 to 19 inches during the period of the storms," the department said. Quite an eye opener. Restore Hetch Hetchy supports a power replacement plan that is truly renewable, and will not increase emissions of any pollutants or carbon that causes global warming. Restoring Hetch Hetchy will require some changes in how San Francisco moves and stores water. The current power produced by the SFPUC system, although not carbon-based, is not green since it requires the continued destruction of significant habitat. The commission plans to decide Nov. 23 whether to formally ask customers to conserve water. The upcountry portion of the System begins with Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park. . Shasta is very large and could hold about 3.5 cubic kilometers of water at full (but not flood) capacity. Fish and Wildlife Service that provides an immediate $4 million investment for habitat improvements for fisheries in the Tuolumne River. Monitoring location 11277500 is associated with a LAKE, RESERVOIR, IMPOUNDMENT in TUOLUMNE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. The snowpack there, which will eventually melt and flow into reservoirs, is already bigger than the average peak snowpack, which typically comes around April 1. This is the first state (of 6 I have lived in) that has had water police and restrictions. The only improvement I would ask you to consider is to allow the Y-axis to be Linear or Log, the latter allowing us to see all the small reservoirs quite easily. Hi Keith, you could de-select the large reservoirs from the menu at the top right. Other California water agencies have done far more to reduce the impact of their system on Mono Lake, the Trinity and San Joaquin Rivers, and the Bay-Delta. If you look at the inflow data on the major reservoirs, its pretty flat. The water treatment facilities are Tesla Ultraviolet Treatment Facility, disinfecting the Hetch Hetchy supply; Sunol Valley Water Treatment Plant, treating the water from the Calaveras and San Antonio supply as well as the stored Hetch Hetchy supply; and Harry Tracy Water Treatment Plant, treating the water from the Crystal Springs and San Andreas supply. Maybe bad data. Great work. Trinity Lake, with a capacity of 2,447,650 acre-feet, had the smallest increase, from 29% in December to 30% in January. Forty-six percent . Meanwhile, the group Restore Hetch Hetchy is urging the SFPUC to abandon Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. What happened to the Hetch Hetchy level? Great Job on this site! It would be really interesting to visualize whether were able to replenish ground water this year after all the precipitation. Lake Almanor isnt controlled by DWR for flood/supply. According to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, Hetch Its fluctuating between ~107% and ~20% from one hour to the next (reading 107.6 atm). I havent spent much time looking at it but that data is on the CDEC website. In fact, thanks to a little snowmelt, water levels were up for all reservoirs from December to January. It was the only tool that I could find that would allow me to make a vertical marimekko graph. Yep. Is it because the laws have changed on how much each reservoir can hold or is it in anticipation of significantly more rain? Thanks for providing it for public information. Kellie Hwang is the newsletter editor for The San Francisco Chronicle. diversion of water? Restore Hetch Hetchy claimed the phrase had Some want the city to leave more water in stream channels for threatened salmon while others continue a longshot bid to shut down Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite altogether and return the area to its natural state. proposed as a source of water following the 1906 San Francisco //this function is called from the javascript from within the iframe after the contents of iframe are loaded (and after an additional 150ms delay) Echoing the sentiments of famed naturalist John Muir, members say the glacially-carved Hetch Hetchy Valley that the reservoir sits in is comparable in grandeur to Yosemite Valley and should not be flooded. For the higher elevations, more of their water comes directly from snowmelt. The trail takes you to the base of Wapama Falls, passing two smaller waterfalls (during spring) on the way. She is also an alumna of Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting Investigative Fellowship and The New York Times Student Journalism Institute. }, false); Lake Tahoe really isnt part of California water, as the outflow goes to Nevada. Historical average is near unattainable these days. Constitution used to support the arguments to remove the dam was I believe the spillway was designed by the State. What rates am I paying? Sierra Club unsuccessfully fought the reservoirs establishment BAWSCA agencies also are implementing water conservation and water recycling projects to help preserve this precious resource for their communities, and are working to identify alternate sources of water supply. Stay up-to-date with breaking news and upcoming events. looks like the CDEC website is the cause of the issue unless it actually dropped 90% in a day: Lake Mendocino, which has a capacity of 122,400 acre feet, saw the biggest boost from 17% of storage capacity in December to 35% in January. Related articles . Nate, thanks for the insight. Units are in kaf, thousands of acre feet. By a large measure, damming and flooding Hetch Hetchy is the most significant damage ever allowed in any of our national parks. System for more than 60 percent of their drinking water. Monitoring location 11275500 is associated with a LAKE, RESERVOIR, IMPOUNDMENT in TUOLUMNE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. The windfall of water is welcome news for households and businesses in San Francisco, which use less water on average compared to the rest of the state but nonetheless have faced calls to cut back since 2021 because of water shortages. The Bay Area's main reservoir is up 21 feet. Lock The SFPUC has voiced concerns with the Plan, as it would dramatically reduce the agencys water supply, leaving it subject to significant rationing in droughts and more extreme weather conditions brought on by climate change. do so. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. She has been with SFGATE for more than 10 years. And more work is underway. But tearing down O'Shaughnessy Dam in order to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley would be a disaster. their water supply would cost hundreds of millions of dollars at You can email her at agraff@sfgate.com. It carried workers and materials for the dam, as well as tourists, postage and other amenities. If you are reading this, its probably the winter rainy season in California again, and time to check on the status of the water in the California reservoirs. United States. How can I apply to SFPUC? Is the Stanley Quencher tumbler worth its TikTok hype? Trailhead coordinates: 37.946905, -119.787376 (37 56 48.85N 119 47 14.55W) Long-term values for reservoir inflows use maximum number of complete water years in record. GNSS2 - Level 2 Quality Survey Grade Global Navigation Satellite System. Kurtis Alexander is an enterprise reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle, with a focus on natural resources and the environment. I like the comparisons of last year, and the historical average. Lake ShastaLevel before the storm on Oct. 22: 882.57 feetLevel after the storm on Nov. 1: 885.47 feetTotal rise: 2.9 feet, Storage before the storm: 970,859 acre-feetStorage after the storm: 1,001,879 acre-feetTotal storage increase: 31,020 acre-feet, Lake OrovilleLevel before the storm: 630.80 feetLevel after the storm: 661.20 feetTotal rise: 30.4 feet, Storage before the storm: 799,638 acre-feetStorage after the storm: 982,263 acre-feetTotal storage increase: 182,625 acre-feet, Hetch HetchyLevel before the storm: 3,729.68 feetLevel after the storm: 3,750.99 feetTotal rise: 21.31 feet, Storage before the storm: 221,500 acre-feetStorage after the storm: 257,800 acre-feetTotal storage increase: 36,300 acre-feet, Trinity LakeLevel before the storm: 2,209.55 feetLevel after the storm: 2,213.22 feetTotal rise: 3.67 feet, Storage before the storm: 648,675 acre-feetStorage after the storm: 672,930 acre-feetTotal storage increase: 24,255 acre-feet, Folsom LakeLevel before the storm: 370.28 feetLevel after the storm: 390.33 feetTotal rise: 20.05 feet, Storage before the storm: 214,225 acre-feetStorage after the storm: 318,577 acre-feetTotal storage increase: 104,352 acre-feet, New Melones LakeLevel before the storm: 916.28 feetLevel after the storm: 917.09 feetTotal rise: 0.81 feet, Storage before the storm: 822,619 acre-feetStorage after the storm: 827,786 acre-feetTotal storage increase: 5,167 acre-feet, Don PedroLevel before the storm: 723.96 feetLevel after the storm: 727.41 feetTotal rise: 3.45 feet, Storage before the storm: 970,226 acre-feetStorage after the storm: 995,836 acre-feetTotal storage increase: 25,610 acre-feet, McClureLevel before the storm: 663.70 feetLevel after the storm: 672.27 feetTotal rise: 8.4 feet, Storage before the storm: 180,900 acre-feetStorage after the storm: 198,467 acre-feetTotal storage increase: 17,210 acre-feet.
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