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SFPUC details emergency firefighting water system, highlights upgrades and coverage gaps
Summary
SFPUC staff presented the structure and recent upgrades to the city's emergency firefighting water system, describing cisterns, high‑pressure piping, pump stations and a planned potable/emergency hybrid project to extend coverage to the western neighborhoods.
Steve Ritchie, assistant general manager for water, told the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission that the city maintains two distinct systems for firefighting water: the low‑pressure potable hydrant network and a separate high‑pressure emergency firefighting water system (EFWS) designed to withstand large earthquakes and conflagrations.
Ritchie said the city has about 9,887 fire hydrants in total, roughly 1,300 of which are high‑pressure hydrants attached to the EFWS. He described the EFWS sources — Twin Peaks Reservoir, Ashbury Tank and Jones Street Tank — and two pump stations that can also draw bay water. “This is designed for emergencies. It’s not really designed for day to day use,” Ritchie said, adding that the system includes about 154 cisterns (70,000 gallons each) as of 2010 and that the PUC has added roughly 30 more since then.
The presentation noted the EFWS is concentrated in the northeast of the city where the original system was built, leaving portions of the West and Southwest less served by hard‑piped high‑pressure mains. Ritchie and commissioners discussed how the city has prioritized adding cisterns and installing potable piping that can be converted to high‑pressure emergency use during major events.
Ritchie described a planned “potable emergency firefighting water system” that would be built to both potable and high‑pressure standards and used for normal water delivery in day‑to‑day operations, with valves that could isolate the potable service and convert the line for firefighting after an earthquake. The SFPUC has included $145 million in its 10‑year capital improvement program for the potable share of that system, with larger construction work expected to begin in 2026.
Commissioners and Ritchie discussed capacity and operations: pump stations have primary electric power with backup generators, the fire department operates hose tenders and has equipment to move large‑diameter hose, and the city can use fireboats to supply the EFWS. Commissioners asked about coverage in the western neighborhoods and whether the fire department has capacity to service additional cisterns; Ritchie said the department would prioritize access to the most critical cisterns and that the city is studying how much protection existing potable mains might provide after a seismic event.
The presentation also described recent investments funded by earthquake safety and emergency response bonds (2010, 2014, 2020) that expanded hard‑piped coverage and added cisterns and pump‑station upgrades. Ritchie said the EFWS is used when fires reach roughly four alarms or more and that the city is continuing to plan long‑term expansion and a potential general‑fund decision about broader buildout. “The expectation is an earthquake resulting in major fires,” Ritchie said, “so that is something we need to be ready for.”
The commission took no formal action on the presentation; commissioners thanked staff for the update and asked for follow‑up work and analysis on coverage and capacity.
