|
Water Supply
Supply and Demand
 Redwood
City is one of 29 wholesale customers who rely on the Hetch
Hetchy regional water system for their drinking water supply. In
the case of Redwood City, we rely 100 percent on Hetch Hetchy for water. Currently,
Redwood City is consuming approximately 1,000 acre-feet per year AFY over our
contractual supply assurance of 12,243 AFY. The Redwood City Water Use Forecast
for 2000 to 2020, prepared by John Whitcomb, Ph.D., (dated June 20, 2002) and
other recent studies show that The City needs additional water supplies to
meet both current and future needs.
Future Demand
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) manages the Hetch Hetchy
system, supplying water to 1.6 million Bay Area residents through its contractual
agreements with 29 wholesale customers in Santa Clara, Alameda and San Mateo
counties. It serves approximately
another 800,000 people within the City of San Francisco.
The Hetch Hetchy reservoir, on the Tuolumne River in Yosemite National Park,
supplies 85 percent of the water delivered to SFPUC customers. Hetch Hetchy water comes from Sierra Nevada snowmelt that
is stored in the reservoir, then shipped to the San Francisco Bay Area. The
remaining 15 percent of SFPUC-supplied water comes from runoff in the Alameda
and Peninsula watersheds; the runoff is stored in reservoirs located in San
Mateo and Alameda Counties.
Overall, the regional water system delivers approximately 260 million gallons
of water per day to its customers. The SFPUC estimates that customer demand and the need to ensure a reliable supply will
require an additional 64 million gallons
per day of water by the year 2030.
Recycled Water and other Alternatives
To meet the anticipated demand, and as
part of its Long-Term Strategic Plan, the SFPUC has set as a performance
objective, the expanded use of other sources of water by its 29 wholesale
customers, including Redwood City. The
plan includes greater use of recycled
water, groundwater and other water sources. The
SFPUC also has set the objective of greater implementation of water conservation
programs in the wholesale service area. Accomplishment of the objectives will be monitored and measured
annually by the SFPUC.
Recycled water is also an objective for
SFPUC’s direct, San Francisco customers. The
SFPUC will develop alternative supply options, to include recycled water
and groundwater, to help increase supply to its direct customers. Water conservation will also continue to be a San Francisco
performance objective, according to the Long-Term Strategic Plan.
|
