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PUC: Hetch Hetchy near full; staff monitoring State Water Board curtailment notices
Summary
SFPUC staff said Hetch Hetchy storage is about 93% and city customers are conserving heavily, but recent State Water Board curtailment notices and litigation require close monitoring to protect San Francisco's water rights and operations.
Steve Ritchie, assistant general manager for water at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, told commissioners on July 14 that Hetch Hetchy reservoir levels remain high — "about 93% capacity" — and that the system-wide reductions in customer demand are outpacing targets. "In June we actually saved in San Francisco, 19.4% below 2013 demand," Ritchie said during the drought update.
Ritchie reviewed statewide reservoir conditions and noted that several Central Valley reservoirs are at very low levels — New Melones, he said, is "only 16% of capacity" and could drop to dead pool this year — underscoring why the city’s comparatively strong Hetch Hetchy storage and the Water Bank matter for the PUC's operational resilience.
The presentation also covered a developing regulatory issue: curtailment notices issued by the State Water Board, which require diverters to certify they have ceased diverting water at certain points. Ritchie described recent legal actions that challenge the notices as lacking due process and said the PUC is tracking court activity closely. He noted a Sacramento Superior Court temporary restraining order issued July 10 affecting curtailment notices to some Westside districts and said staff had responded to a June 26 notice directed at four points of diversion including Camp Mather.
On operations, Ritchie said releases from Cherry and other facilities meant the Water Bank started to refill and that, as of July 12, diversions were about 230 cubic feet per second while releases were roughly three times that amount. "So in fact, we're releasing about 500 cubic feet per second above our total inflow," he said, adding that if a curtailment notice were received with similar conditions the system might not need immediate operational changes.
Commissioners asked about the budgetary implications of sustained conservation. Staff confirmed that reduced demand has decreased revenues across water, wastewater and power enterprises, that reserves are being used and that the next biennial budget will reflect drought scenarios.
Staff said they will continue to monitor curtailment notices and related litigation and report back as new information affects water-rights protections or operations.
