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. reservoir violates the California Constitution specifically the O'Shaughnessy Dam was built on the Tuolumne River in 1923 to create Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. The current power produced by the SFPUC system, although not carbon-based, is not green since it requires the continued destruction of significant habitat. Data have been checked by the reporting agency. Due to its high-altitude location at 3,900 feet above sea level Add a button to convert the row heights to log scale. It used to be full (and beyond). Omar, Thanks! Current conditions of LAKE OR RESERVOIR WATER SURFACE ELEVATION ABOVE NGVD 1929 and RESERVOIR STORAGE are available. Visualization was done in javascript and specifically the D3.js visualization library. The trail takes you to the base of Wapama Falls, passing two smaller waterfalls (during spring) on the way. environmental context. It does not meet the California definition of renewable energy. At the moment, I am not interested in the debate. 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. Upcountry and the Bay Area. CHERRY LK NR HETCH HETCHY CA Important Legacy real-time page Monitoring location 11277200 is associated with a LAKE, RESERVOIR, IMPOUNDMENT in TUOLUMNE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. Monitoring location 11277500 is associated with a LAKE, RESERVOIR, IMPOUNDMENT in TUOLUMNE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. Then it has the appearance of something filling up, while still providing all the detail. His recent work has examined the impacts of drought, threats to public lands and wildlife, and the nation's widening rural-urban divide. Lots of possibilities, just curious. February 21, 2023 - BAWSCA Statement on State Water Resources Control Board'sSchedule for Consideration of a Voluntary Agreement for the Tuolumne River. But they'll cost you, Fight at high school basketball game in S.F. . Our flagship blog features analysis of news from our staff and announcements of upcoming events. Also a little nit. River. She joined the Chronicle as a data reporter in 2021. required on whether to demolish OShaughnessy Dam. Shasta, Oroville, Hetch Hetchy and many others were built by damming large rivers. 2013, photo, the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is hazy with smoke . It was at 60 percent as of March 1 and rising, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. Saved to my favorites now. Restore Hetch Hetchy intends to undo this Great American mistake, and return the valley to Yosemite National Park and all people. 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. 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. Most local reservoir inflow timeseries are too short to calculate long-term values. The Bay Area portion of the System includes water collection, treatment, and transmission facilities from the Alameda East Portal to the wholesale service area and terminal reservoirs in San Francisco. Water data back to 1956 are available online. Your email address will not be published. Assistant General Manager for Water Steven Ritchie credits the way the system is managed along with lower. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander. In whats known as the Bay-Delta Plan, state water regulators are amid a years-long effort to negotiate a policy for how much water should be kept in rivers that flow to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to meet the needs of both people and wildlife. Excellent graphic! 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. 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. 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. There is something strange about the data over the last two days (Jan.17 to Jan. 19): The citys water system also includes a water bank at Don Pedro Reservoir along the Tuolumne River, which was full as of Feb. 1. It wont be full until Spring snowmelt. We own and operate the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System which serves 2.7 million customers. If a reservoir gets filled to 100% and more, the dam will break and many cities will get flooded, so the operators are careful. 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. At times, nearly 90% of the flow of the Tuolumne River is piped off by the SFPUC and other water agencies in the region. The trail includes spectacular views of Tueeulala and Wapama Falls. Hetch Hetchy water travels 160 miles via gravity from Yosemite to the San Francisco Bay Area. Hetch Hetchy is Monitoring location 11275500. resizeframe(); The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is involved in on-going negotiations with the State on a voluntary agreement for implementation of the Bay-Delta Plan, which calls for large increases in water releases on the tributaries to the San Joaquin River, a major tributary to the Bay-Delta. 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. Yoohyun Jung is the Deputy Data Editor for The San Francisco Chronicle. At the height of the recent drought, they still had at least four years in storage. And for the years they were hoarding water, the salmon-based ecosystem suffered.. The Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park can store up to 117 billion gallons of drinking water that is used for the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System that provides water for 2.6 . Each row represents one reservoir, with bars showing how much of the reservoir is filled (blue) and unfilled (brown). Hetchy Reservoir can store as much as 117 billion gallons for the Folsom Lake is letting the water flow out. Lake Shasta and Mendocino are also well below average. Our drinking water comes from a variety of protected sources carefully managed by the SFPUC. How do I pay my bill? So on Jan 10 were at 82% of the average for Jan 10. They also built a spillway that was too steep and did not install energy dissipators along the spillway. Getting There. 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. Could you also show each reservoirs level as a function of time? Great stuff. 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 Didnt realize how bad things were there. All rights reserved. dam and restoring the valley. finding an alternative water and power source (Hetchy Hetchy also He frequently writes about water, wildfire, climate and the American West. Thank you for the time and effort in creating the graphs. Current as of October 03, 2022 | Updated by . 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. Thanks for putting this together. Forty-six percent . They are draining it currently so that it can serve as that overflow if needed given how much rain is coming down and expected over the next week. Northern California's reservoir levels continued to rise in the week after an atmospheric river slammed the state with torrential rain and high winds. Heres where California reservoir levels stand after this weeks rains. 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. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the mandate within window.addEventListener("orientationchange", function() { Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. So they should be saving much more and deal with the .000001 of risk later. 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. 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. At this facility, which is shared with other water agencies, the city can stash water for credits against future draws on the river. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the a minimum, according to the San Francisco Public Utilities Have you looked into that side of the water management equation? A lock ( 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. In addition, San Francisco receives approximately one-tenth of its power from hydroelectricity generated by the gravity-driven flow from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Occasionally the source water will shift to local reservoirs during routine maintenance to the conveyance system. Hetch Hetchy has generated controversy since it was first provides water to 2.7 million residents and businesses in the San Californias largest water agencies, in both the urban and agricultural sectors, have invested in ambitious groundwater banking programs inKern County. Park visitors walk across OShaughnessy Dam in Yosemite National Park on Sept. 1. I appreciate the information you are providing. An official website of the United States government. Trinity Lake, with a capacity of 2,447,650 acre-feet, had the smallest increase, from 29% in December to 30% in January. Climbers Timmy O'Neill (left) and Lucho Rivera atop a wall overlooking Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. pertained to water that was wasted, and there was no claim that The Water Education Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-exempt, I wonder why it doesnt work for you. A small portion of the citys water comes from local reservoirs. do so. 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? I like the comparisons of last year, and the historical average. earthquake. Great visualization Chris! Reservoir levels rising. Copyright 2023Water Education Foundation. Very nice work. 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. It is also the amount of water in a cube that is 352 feet per side (about the length of a football field). Why isnt Lake Sonoma included? }, false); Lake Tahoe really isnt part of California water, as the outflow goes to Nevada. These sources are diverse in both the origin of the supply snowmelt, rainfall and recharge of groundwater and their location within our system. Shasta is the reservoir with the largest capacity and so it is the tallest row. Ive added it to my bookmarks for quick reference. 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. Steve Ritchie, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission's assistant general manager for water, said the additional water amounted to roughly 11% of the reservoir's total capacity. 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. In 2007, the Bush The adopted Plan addresses water quality issues affecting the ecosystem and fisheries of the Bay-Delta system. Is that from melting snow and rain water coming from the mountains and filling it up? It didnt end the drought, but it was definitely really good," said Ritchie. The remaining 15 percent of water comes from runoff in the Alameda and Peninsula watersheds. More about the Tuolumne River Voluntary Agreement can be found athttp://www.tuolumnerivermanagementplan.com. Its just small enough that the name doesnt appear as the bar is too thin. 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. In 2016, a Tuolumne County Superior Court judge dismissed the 2022 All Rights Reserved. That puts it at 84 percent of where it would usually be usually at this time of year. 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. Call 209-372-0200 for the latest road and weather conditions, Hetch Hetchy Road Daily Hours: 8 am to 5 pm 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. 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. During late summer and early fall, it will be necessary to move stored supplies from Cherry or Don Pedro Reservoirs into the pipeline. For the first week of February, there was a slight increase for most reservoirs from January amounts. Restore Hetch Hetchys subsequent appeal to the ruling was The Bay Area transmission system also includes Irvington Tunnel 1 and Tunnel 2, the Bay Tunnel, and the Crystal Springs Bypass Tunnel. All of this work is nothing short of brilliant. For perspective, water demand across the SFPUC's service area of 2.7 million people was about 205,000 acre-feet last fiscal year. Thanks for the link. For each of the top 8 reservoirs the storage has increased by a total of 217 kaf, however). From the main road, it's about a 20- to 25-minute drive to the parking area. This local water is captured in reservoirs located in San Mateo and Alameda counties. Here's what that means. John Muir and the the map graph doesnt include berryessa. 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. This was helpful to project seasonal trends & storm impacts. I do not see Diamond Valley Lake Resevoir on this page. Awesome work!! Thank you so much for the hard work! maybe label the vertical axis with aggregate total or system total capacity. Theyve also seen drought surcharges on their water bills. Charts from the California Department of Water Resources show conditions at key state reservoirs on Oct. 22 (left) and on Nov. 2 (right). however, Ill update the code to include it soon. Maintaining this variety of sources is an important component of our near and long-term water supply management strategy. We provide water directly to customers in San Francisco and wholesale through 26 Water agencies in Alameda, Santa Clara, and San Mateo counties. An improvement: Could you include a bar for Last year at this date? } Heres an example of that data for Shasta, where you can see the daily inflows and outflows: 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. There are no alerts at this time. This is wonderful information. This is my first year watching the levels, so maybe Im missing something. What happened to the Hetch Hetchy level? 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. How Much Water is in California Reservoirs? If we reach 100% after the current rains and then it stops raining for the season, then our percentage will start going down. Generation at Holm powerhouse below Cherry Lake would be less affected. Trailhead coordinates: 37.946905, -119.787376 (37 56 48.85N 119 47 14.55W) 1 covering up to $875 million and much of the rest coming from federal loans to water suppliers. You can find the charts below from the California Department of Water Resources website. California reservoir levels: . How Fast Are California Reservoirs Filling Up? 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. Lock Reservoir behind OShaughnessy Dam does not require filtration. proposed as a source of water following the 1906 San Francisco The worst possible scenario is it just remains completely dry. How can I apply to SFPUC? has a graph which shows how the historical avg changes throughout the year (oscillating between ~15000 and ~21000). During the winter months, they let water out of the reservoirs in anticipation of large storms. Much of the recent inflow was to Hetch Hetchy, which can hold. The dam and reservoir are the source for the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct, which provides water for over . No it is correct. I am new to the state. Sacramento CA 95833, Everything about California water that matters, Western States Water Agencies and Districts. Department of Water Resources is just another in a long line of completely mismanaged California entities. The remaining 15 percent of water comes from runoff in the Alameda and Peninsula watersheds. Weve been at zero now for several weeks, and we really want to see that turn around., Kellie Hwang and Yoohyun Jung are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Really appreciate the work you did to build this graph. Copyright Barry Rokeach, 2014. Ive been meaning to search for aquifer levels. Id only be interested in the totals from Oroville and Shasta. Best of luck out there in California! 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). Its currently listed on this page as 29kaf full, but the usgs.gov page below says Hetch Hetchy is at 299.7kaf full. May 24, 2022 - BAWSCA Statement About the Adoption of a Systemwide Water Use Reduction of 11%. I havent spent much time looking at it but that data is on the CDEC website. Lake Mendocino and Lake Berryessa water levels stayed the same. Usually with warm ARs, you get a dramatic increase in inflow, which can fill even very large reservoirs relatively quickly, like Oroville in 2017. globe = document.getElementById('mekko'); 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. Crystal Springs Reservoir, along Highway 280 in San Mateo County, was 89 percent . 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. This system encompasses more than 1,250 miles of distribution pipelines, as well as 12 in-City reservoirs and eight water tanks with a total storage capacity of approximately 413 million gallons. Francisco Bay Area. You dont see runoff right away, the snow is still up there, frozen, doing what we want it to do, he said. This is the best one out there. I noticed that Folsom does not change whereas every reservoir changes on an hourly update. 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%. Water data back to 1930 are available online. A 1 week change would be interesting to show on each. And early forecasts show the rest of the wet season is not likely to produce enough precipitation. I recently joined the team with Restore Hetch Hetchy as Engagement & Development Director. Nate, thanks for the insight. This other page: 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. Although Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is the most well-known, it stores less than 25% of the system's water. 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. Hetchy refers to a valley in the Sierra Nevada and a reservoir that That cant be right. Historical average is near unattainable these days. But tearing down O'Shaughnessy Dam in order to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley would be a disaster. Fish and Wildlife Service that provides an immediate $4 million investment for habitat improvements for fisheries in the Tuolumne River. The gain came after weather gauges in the area recorded more than 5 inches from one storm. To reach Hetch Hetchy, you have to exit Yosemite National Park and re-enter it. Your email address will not be published. "In contrast, the Shasta Lake drainage had only a couple of stations in excess of 10 inches whereas most received less. This dashboard is great! The name Hetch Hetchy is derived from a Sierra Miwok 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. 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). 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). It can take several days to see the full impact on reservoirs as water continues to run through watersheds and into streams in the days after a storm. The reservoir is eight miles long and the largest single body of water in Yosemite. generates electricity for the city). Next feature request: wire in aquifer level data! construction in the 1920s, various groups have lobbied to restore Secure .gov websites use HTTPS I will take a look and see if there are other important reservoirs missing and may add them in the future. word for a type of wild grass. The construction of the Hetch Hetchy Railroad took place from 1915 to 1918. } 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. Interesting. . Yes, and why is Twitchell Dam also not listed? Thats just another very strong indication visually that its a big water year.. 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. Hours: Year-round, but only accessible by car when the Hetch Hetchy Road is open. Within San Francisco, we manage water distribution in the City. It could be the 180% of historical average of snowpack, which will be melting in a couple months. Monitoring location 11275500 is associated with a LAKE, RESERVOIR, IMPOUNDMENT in TUOLUMNE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. They are releasing water into the canals. Even with the latest precipitation, Folsoms values was unchanged. mobilewarn(); Local reservoir inflows have negative daily flow rates set to zero. You can email her at agraff@sfgate.com. The soaking was welcome in a drought-plagued state with a diminishing water supply. Absolutely zero reason to be releasing this much water from these reservoirs. it will be cool if there is a way to track the change since Dec or some such date. Major snowstorm might leave you stranded, New 101 express lanes opens in Bay Area. All Rights Reserved. https://engaging-data.com/ca-reservoir-level/ Hetch Hetchy is only one of nine reservoirs in the San Francisco Public Utility Commission's water system. Maybe bad data. "This was rare for October. I notice Briones Reservoir is not on the list. Only improvement I would suggest is an improvement of the display of the smaller reservoirs so the names are readable. The captured water is piped 150 miles to the Bay Area. Quite an eye opener. FYI it looks like Isabella is reading incorrectly, likely because its well above 100%. You can also use it to monitor only the reservoirs you are most interested in. Python is used to extract the data from this page hourly and wrangle the data in to a clean format. 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. For example, the average storage level for Feb. 7 is usually 65% of capacity for Trinity Dam, but currently its at 31%. by the Raker Act. The reservoir is now projected to cost $4.4 billion, with Prop.
Astrology Observations,
William And Mary Cohen Career Center,
How To Write Mass Intention For Birthday,
Franklin County Police Reports,
Edu Manzano Wife Rina Samson,
Articles H