According to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir can store as much as 117 billion gallons for the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System, which serves San Francisco, Santa Clara, Alameda and San Mateo counties. Next feature request: wire in aquifer level data! 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. Current as of October 03, 2022 | Updated by . Getting There. The advocacy group Restore Hetch Hetchy took its case for Lake Shasta and Mendocino are also well below average. Impounded by OShaughnessy Dam, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir water passes through hydroelectric powerhouses before it enters the San Joaquin Pipelines, the Tesla Ultraviolet Treatment Facility, and the Coast Range Tunnel on its journey to the Bay Area. in 2018. His recent work has examined the impacts of drought, threats to public lands and wildlife, and the nation's widening rural-urban divide. Reservoir behind OShaughnessy Dam does not require filtration. San Francisco and the thousands of suburban . however, Ill update the code to include it soon. 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. California Reservoir Levels - Dashboard and visualization showing current water levels in California reservoirs . The area around Shasta has more volcanic soils that absorb rainfall than the Feather River drainage. So on Jan 10 were at 82% of the average for Jan 10. Heres an example of that data for Shasta, where you can see the daily inflows and outflows: While the rainfall has been bad for many people, I am happy to see Californias reservoirs are benefiting slightly, Amen! administration attempted to allocate funds to study removing the Your tools are awesome just hurts when you receive bad data at times! O'Shaughnessy Dam was built on the Tuolumne River in 1923 to create Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Shasta, Oroville, Hetch Hetchy and many others were built by damming large rivers. 1 covering up to $875 million and much of the rest coming from federal loans to water suppliers. This site is a great tool, especially as we try to climb out of these drought years. If we reach 100% after the current rains and then it stops raining for the season, then our percentage will start going down. The remaining 15 percent of water comes from runoff in the Alameda and Peninsula watersheds. May 24, 2022 - BAWSCA Statement About the Adoption of a Systemwide Water Use Reduction of 11%. This is a very clear graph and I cannot imagine the hours you have put in while setting it up and doing the maintenance. globe = document.getElementById('mekko'); John Muir and the resizeframe(); But tearing down O'Shaughnessy Dam in order to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley would be a disaster. That includes the Tuolumne River, which provides water via Hetch Hetchy Reservoir to Bay Area customers. According to the SFPUC, the upper reaches of the Tuolumne River have received about 36 inches of rain since the start of the water year in October, almost as much as what the area averages in a year. Lock 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. Another not monitored by the State? If we reach 100% after the current rains and then it stops raining for the season, then our percentage will start going down. United States. Much of the water passing through Holm would be diverted into the Mountain Tunnel and be used to generate power a second time at the Moccasin powerhouse. You can also share a custom URL by clicking the Save URL button which will put the custom URL into the URL bar of your browser which you can then copy and share. Thats just another very strong indication visually that its a big water year.. best to drain the valley. Check out my **new combined California reservoir and snowpack visualizer** to compare to historical values, as well asthe California precipitation tracker and California snowpack visualizer. 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. How Much Water is in California Reservoirs? document.getElementById('globes').contentWindow.location.reload(); This chart only shows reservoirs filled via natural flow/rainfall. I appreciate the information you are providing. required on whether to demolish OShaughnessy Dam. 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 trail takes you to the base of Wapama Falls, passing two smaller waterfalls (during spring) on the way. . Have you looked into that side of the water management equation? Within San Francisco, we manage water distribution in the City. . The Water Education Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-exempt, BAWSCA agencies advocated for the capital improvement program that was adopted by the SFPUC in 2002, and are actively monitoring its implementation. 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). I dont think its currently above the historical average, not below 1 year ago. by the Raker Act. It is on the graph. Official websites use .gov Arg. An official website of the United States government. How can I match up other monitoring locations similar to the ones on this Interactive Dashboard? 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. A truly excellent project. The main reason for the discrepancy, the department said, is that the focus of the atmospheric river was generally between the Golden Gate and Mount Lassen, meaning that the Feather River watershed received much more rainfall than the Shasta Lake drainage area. Although Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is the most well-known, it stores less than 25% of the system's water. Its promising, but too early to let our guard down, said Joseph Sweiss, spokesman for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the citys water purveyor, in an email to The Chronicle. 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. Remaining Capacity text in the legend should be brown? And early forecasts show the rest of the wet season is not likely to produce enough precipitation. 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). The reservoir is eight miles long and the largest single body of water in Yosemite. Meanwhile, the group Restore Hetch Hetchy is urging the SFPUC to abandon Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Great URL. Historical average is near unattainable these days. The 1913 Raker Act authorized the unprecedented dam inside the park and also set the fee that the city pays to rent the entire valley in which the dam sits: $30,000 per year. Hetch Hetchy water travels 160 miles via gravity from Yosemite to the San Francisco Bay Area. 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. All of this work is nothing short of brilliant. Locked padlock Official websites use .gov A lock ( 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. Previously, Kellie covered dining news and trends, visual arts, events and nightlife for the Arizona Republic, and freelanced for the former Contra Costa Times. The reservoir was at 75 percent capacity as of May 5, totaling 269,963 acre-feet of water (an acre-foot is nearly 326,000 gallons). use must be reasonable.. Lake Almanor isnt controlled by DWR for flood/supply. If you look at the inflow data on the major reservoirs, its pretty flat. 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. Assistant General Manager for Water Steven Ritchie credits the way the system is managed along with lower. A lock ( Together, the BAWSCA agencies account for two-thirds of water consumption from the system and pay for two-thirds of its upkeep. Its essential to understand that the dispute over San Franciscos use of Hetch Hetchy is not about the use of water only how it is stored. California snowpack hits highest level this century for March. currently, there is a lot more water coming in than going out. The reservoir is now projected to cost $4.4 billion, with Prop. While the long-term voluntary agreement work continues, the SFPUC does not want to wait to restore the Tuolumne Rivers ecosystem. So included in DWR #S. and maybe another vertical axis to the right of that with reservoir capacity. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Subscribe to receive email notifications of new content. Awesome work!! Thats a very poor design. I would like to make one small suggestion:. It used to be full (and beyond). He frequently writes about water, wildfire, climate and the American West. Delivering approximately 260 million gallons of water per day, the regional system consists of over 280 miles of pipelines, over 60 miles of tunnels, 11 reservoirs, five pump stations and two water treatment plants. You dont see runoff right away, the snow is still up there, frozen, doing what we want it to do, he said. Even with all the rain and floods, still a long way to fill them to capacity. The name Hetch Hetchy is derived from a Sierra Miwok Reservoir levels rising. An official website of the United States government. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the This other page: https . Great Job on this site! 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). Thinking more about it. November 10, 2022 - BAWSCA Statement on State Water-Policy Officials, SFPUC, and Districts Sign MOU for Tuolumne River to Help Recover Salmon While Protecting Water Reliability. Northern California's reservoir levels continued to rise in the week after an atmospheric river slammed the state with torrential rain and high winds. Current conditions of LAKE OR RESERVOIR WATER SURFACE ELEVATION ABOVE NGVD 1929 and RESERVOIR STORAGE are available. Also, do they provide inflows and outflows for locations? That puts it at 84 percent of where it would usually be usually at this time of year. 7 days 30 days Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. HETCH HETCHY RES A HETCH HETCHY CA. It carried workers and materials for the dam, as well as tourists, postage and other amenities. . drained by the Tuolumne Winter weather conditions may cause road closures. Great work. So its volume is counted as Orville inflow. How do I contact support? The worst possible scenario is it just remains completely dry. The question was, what constitutes unreasonable method of While constructed and owned by San Francisco, the water system was in fact planned to benefit the greater San Francisco Bay Area population. Several cities and water agencies that are now part of BAWSCA urged Congress to pass the Raker Act in 1913, the law that allowed federal lands in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, including Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park, to be used to build the water system. construction in the 1920s, various groups have lobbied to restore Having it here would be great! San Franciscos water-bank in Don Pedro Reservoir, downstream on the Tuolumne River, holds twice as much water as Hetch Hetchy. This is the first state (of 6 I have lived in) that has had water police and restrictions. She joined the Chronicle as a data reporter in 2021. Occasionally the source water will shift to local reservoirs during routine maintenance to the conveyance system. 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. In the year prior to Oroville reaching capacity the interactive chart showed the rate of inflow over time. Excellent graphic! It has no natural inflow or out flow. In 2021, the SFPUC and the Modesto and Turlock Irrigation Districts launched a proactive pilot program with the U.S. 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. Thanks for taking the time to do that. The information on Isabella has been fluctuating drastically (by a factor of 10!) Before returning to the Bay Area, she held roles as transportation reporter and trending news reporter at the IndyStar in Indianapolis. "This was rare for October. do so. Yoohyun Jung is the Deputy Data Editor for The San Francisco Chronicle. sends student to hospital, Heres how much rain and snow is on the way this weekend, Your Privacy Choices (Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads). The commission plans to decide Nov. 23 whether to formally ask customers to conserve water. Impounded by O'Shaughnessy Dam, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir water passes through hydroelectric powerhouses before it enters the San Joaquin Pipelines, the Tesla Ultraviolet Treatment Facility, and the Coast Range Tunnel on its journey to the Bay Area. The OShaughnessy Dam i s 300 feet tall only medium-sized by todays standards. Department of Water Resources is just another in a long line of completely mismanaged California entities. Required fields are marked *. I find myself coming back to this every few days to check on our water . Water data back to 1956 are available online. 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. Id love to see how much water is being / has been released from these reservoirs. Most local reservoir inflow timeseries are too short to calculate long-term values. David Rizzardo, hydrology section manager for the California Department of Water Resources, said there are a lot of factors that affect reservoir storage. Navigation and Navigable Waters 33.208.82 Hetch Hetchy, Cherry Valley, and Don Pedro Dams and Reservoirs. During the winter months, they let water out of the reservoirs in anticipation of large storms. The water system, which includes the landmark Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, is expected to fill this winter, for the first time since 2019, with nearly 1.5 million acre-feet of water. Read more about the data team and their work. Curt, Good point re the colder weather dropping more snow instead of rain at higher elevations this year. Could you also show each reservoirs level as a function of time? The current power produced by the SFPUC system, although not carbon-based, is not green since it requires the continued destruction of significant habitat. Tracy Barbutes, Freelance / Special to The Chronicle, Heres where California reservoir levels stand after this weeks rains. Here's what that means. Hetch Hetchy is only one of nine reservoirs in the San Francisco Public Utility Commissions water system. Just trying to learn here Thanks so much! I like the comparisons of last year, and the historical average. You can email her at agraff@sfgate.com. SFPUC said as of this week, the Hetch Hetchy reservoir is at 92 percent capacity. However, I am interested in how much we are saving. Thanks for putting this together. 2022 All Rights Reserved. a minimum, according to the San Francisco Public Utilities I will take a look and see if there are other important reservoirs missing and may add them in the future. 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. A wet December produced ample snowfall, which is still sitting at high elevations. Hetchy refers to a valley in the Sierra Nevada and a reservoir that Quite an eye opener. Due to its high-altitude location at 3,900 feet above sea level The amount stored is increasing, just not by a lot. All Rights Reserved. That cant be right. Nate, thanks for the insight. LK ELEANOR NR HETCH HETCHY CA. Hetch Hetchy has generated controversy since it was first Kellie Hwang is the newsletter editor for The San Francisco Chronicle. Data have been checked by the reporting agency. You can also use it to monitor only the reservoirs you are most interested in. Is the Stanley Quencher tumbler worth its TikTok hype? Fish and Wildlife Service that provides an immediate $4 million investment for habitat improvements for fisheries in the Tuolumne River. looks like the CDEC website is the cause of the issue unless it actually dropped 90% in a day: Thanks for developing it, and for sharing it with the rest of us! Just in case a large storm hits, that way they dont reach 100% capacity. http://www.tuolumnerivermanagementplan.com. Ive added it to my bookmarks for quick reference. It allowed the water over the spillway to move too fast creating a vacuum between the water and the concrete that pulled the concrete sections out of the spillway. The SFPUC has consistently stated that voluntary agreements are the best path forward for the Bay-Delta, as the voluntary agreement strikes the right balance between environmental stewardship and water reliability. GNSS2 - Level 2 Quality Survey Grade Global Navigation Satellite System. According to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, Hetch So while that is kind of good news, he said, things start to look more grim after January produced paltry rainfall and, so far, February has also been dry. I wonder why it doesnt work for you. It looks like the red and blue lines are backwards on Folsom. Flood control agencies (not DWR) have the most say in regard to releases. Find out more about the system at http://www.sfwater.org, BAWSCA Board Policy Committee Meeting, April 12, 2023 1:30pm. They placed a few dissipators just before the river. globe.height = globe.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+40+"px"; Lock Our drinking water comes from a variety of protected sources carefully managed by the SFPUC. Much of the recent inflow was to Hetch Hetchy, which can hold. finding an alternative water and power source (Hetchy Hetchy also Wapama Falls (moderate) 5 mi (8 km) round-trip; 2 hours. They have restoredMono Lake,improved stream flows on the North Coast and in theCentral Valleyand diminished the threat to native fish in the Bay Delta. I realize there we dont want to reservoirs overflowing, but why are we still below historical average? Love this. San Franciscos Hetch Hetchy water system is almost full for the first time in years. It wont be full until Spring snowmelt. 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%. Forty-six percent . Similar findings are described in theUC Davis studyRe-Assembling Hetch HetchyandUS Bureau of Reclamation study. reserved. diversion of water? Restore Hetch Hetchy claimed the phrase had A dry January with little rainfall across much of Northern California actually didnt hurt the states water storage levels, according to data from the California Department of Water Resources. 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. supplies water to the San Francisco Bay Area. "It is unknown how much area of the Feather River and Shasta Lake drainages are impacted by hydrophobic soils.". Could the reason be that the water from Lake Alma or seems to be used for energy generation, and that there does not seem to be any agricultural or urban use? The blue line indicates the reservoirs water level one year ago today. UPDATE: Here's where California reservoir levels stand after this week's rains. In 2007, the Bush But I would never have imagined how to put all the important information into a single plot. Why is it not listed? They also built a spillway that was too steep and did not install energy dissipators along the spillway. 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. 1 kaf is the amount of water that would cover 1 acre in one thousand feet of water (or 1000 acres in water in 1 foot of water). Sacramento CA 95833, Everything about California water that matters, Western States Water Agencies and Districts. sends student to hospital, Heres how much rain and snow is on the way this weekend, Your Privacy Choices (Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads). Born in Seoul, Yoohyun began her career in Arizona, where she worked for two of the state's largest newspapers covering various beats, including criminal justice and education. The Bay Area transmission system also includes Irvington Tunnel 1 and Tunnel 2, the Bay Tunnel, and the Crystal Springs Bypass Tunnel. I love this this site too. Hetch Hetchy Level before the storm: 3,729.68 feet Level after the storm: 3,750.99 feet Total rise: 21.31 feet Storage before the storm: 221,500 acre-feet Storage after the storm: 257,800. This is a great and very thoughtfully designed web site! And more work is underway. After record snowfall in December was followed by a dry January, there are renewed concerns of drought. Its important to note that other communities in California have taken actions in far greater magnitude than SF to make our waterways more sustainable. Restoring Hetch Hetchy will require some changes in how San Francisco moves and stores water. 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. provides water to 2.7 million residents and businesses in the San How Fast Are California Reservoirs Filling Up? This is wonderful information. their water supply would cost hundreds of millions of dollars at After the reservoirs This hike follows the shoreline of the reservoir with moderate up and downhill hiking. This local water is captured in reservoirs located in San Mateo and Alameda counties. A diverse mix of sources protects us from potential disruptions due to emergencies or natural disasters, provides resiliency during periods of drought, and helps us ensure a long-term, sustainable water supply as we address issues such as climate uncertainty, regulatory changes and population growth. San Francisco voters have demonstrated their opposition to Privacy Policy | 2011-2021 San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. Hoping they start building more reservoirs soon. "Soils that have become hydrophobic due to wildfire can also contribute to increased runoff because the water is less able to penetrate the burned soil," the department said. Californias largest water agencies, in both the urban and agricultural sectors, have invested in ambitious groundwater banking programs inKern County.
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