PUC outlines emergency firefighting water upgrades and responds to civil grand jury recommendations

Senior staff briefed the commission on work to assess and upgrade the Emergency Firefighting Water System (EFWS, formerly AWSS) and presented proposed responses to a civil grand jury report that recommended broader preparedness for a 7.8 earthquake.

John Scarpulla (SFPUC) reviewed the 2010 condition assessment the PUC inherited, noted investments funded by earthquake safety and emergency response (EASER) bonds (2010/2014) — including cisterns, seawater pump station upgrades and pipeline projects — and said those efforts reduced system water loss by about 500,000 gallons per day. He described ongoing capital work (Nineteenth Avenue pipeline, Ashbury bypass, Tide projects, pump stations) and proposed longer‑range ideas including a Westside potable EFWS concept using Lake Merced (capacity ~1,000,000,000 gallons) and a conceptual 30,000 gallons‑per‑minute pump station.

Scarpulla reviewed six civil grand jury recommendations relevant to the commission, including city‑wide planning for a 7.8 earthquake, financing strategies, additional seawater pump station studies, neighborhood‑level needs analysis, maintenance best practices, and an amended MOU with the fire department to formalize drills and responsibilities. The PUC proposed syncing some deliverables with the 10‑year capital plan and moved certain deadlines (notably shifting a city plan deadline to December 2021 to align with capital planning). Staff said many recommendations had already been implemented in part (annual valve exercises, maintenance programs) and committed to completing follow‑up studies and to amending the MOU with the fire department.

The commission voted to accept the staff’s proposed response and timeline to the civil grand jury recommendations.