What do a City Attorney, an evironmental specialist, and an emergency manager have to do with the San Francisco Water Department? It was, admittedly, a very unusual partnership but we all shared a common interest: deep wells.
One of the main concerns I had as Director of Emergency Services for San Francisco was water. San Francisco sits at the tip of peninsula and the end of a pipeline that extends into the mountains 167 miles away. In an earthquake, that means that our water supply is subject to interruption. Water for drinking and for firefighting was a primary concern for us as emergency planners.
This led us to the deep wells and the shrinking aquifier under the City. San Francisco had a series of deep wells but they were non-potable and had been capped for years. Part of the problem was that so much water had been pumped out of the aquifier to water neighboring golf courses that the wells were not viable and we had seen dramatic drops in the water level at Lake Merced, one of our few above-ground resources. And so I found myself working with our Department of the Evironment, a City Attorney who had an interest in the wells, and our Water Department to recharge the aquifier and reopen the deep wells.
I left office before we made any major breakthroughs but I have followed the work of my friends with interest. The City successfully negotiated alternative water options with the golf courses and Lake Merced has been largely restored. The Water Department has also established the San Francisco Groundwater Supply Project, which is intended to produce 4 milllion gallons per day of local, sustainable water. While this is small compared to our daily consumption of about 73 million gallons per day, it would be a welcome addition to the supplies in our cisterns and holding tanks in a disaster. Phase I of the project, which will create four new wells and supporting infrastructure is scheduled to begin shortly with the goal of providing 2.8 million gallons per day.
It's gratifying to see that there are still people in government that can pursue a long-term dream. To all of those who made this happen, well done!
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