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SFPUC climate workshop stresses adaptation: sea‑level, snowpack and extreme events need planning
Summary
At a climate‑change workshop David Behar and enterprise leads summarized observed warming, projected snowpack losses and rising sea levels, presented city inundation mapping and recommended adaptive management; wastewater staff warned of chronic Ocean Beach erosion threatening roughly $2 billion in assets.
David Behar, Climate Program Director for the Water Enterprise, told commissioners on Sept. 8 that ‘‘climate change is real’’ and that planning should distinguish observations from projections. Behar presented statewide and local data showing rising temperatures, stressed uncertainties in precipitation, and illustrated projected snowpack declines under moderate and high emission scenarios.
Behar emphasized extremes as an operational concern: while total precipitation in Northern California shows no clear trend, climate models indicate increases in both heavy‑precipitation events and multi‑year dry spells. For planning, staff recommended an adaptive management approach rather than fixing a single long‑range number. "If you do that, you're sort of oversimplifying the science," Behar said of picking one sea‑level number for the long run.
Water enterprise Assistant General Manager Steve Ritchie described operational implications for Hetch Hetchy: changes in snowpack and runoff timing could push staff toward a portfolio of "no‑regrets" investments such as recycled water, groundwater projects and potential additional surface storage at Calaveras Dam. Ritchie said the system can consider extended shutdown management for Hetch Hetchy supply interruptions when local supplies and interties are available.
Power enterprise staff (Barbara Hale) said power generation profiles will shift with hydrology and extreme events, and the PUChas invested in distributed generation and efficiency to mitigate greenhouse gas impacts. Wastewater staff described mapping and pilots to address sea‑level impacts and chronic erosion at Ocean Beach, including short‑term sand nourishment and a long‑term strategy to protect roughly $2 billion of wastewater infrastructure; they said a long‑term solution could be ready for construction by late 2019.
Commissioners asked for more detail on ecosystem health, where sea‑level and backflow vulnerabilities lie within neighborhoods, and how projects in the 10‑year capital plan incorporate sea‑level guidance. Staff said citywide inundation maps have been incorporated into capital planning and that many projects already account for sea‑level projections.
Next steps: continued enterprise coordination, refined downscaling and hydrologic modeling for watershed operations, completion and periodic updates of the adaptation plan, and presentation of more targeted flooding and neighborhood‑level mapping as staff refines capital planning.
