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SFPUC: Hetch Hetchy near full as agency urges 10% voluntary water cut to avert deeper rationing
Summary
Assistant General Manager Steve Ritchie told the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission that reservoir storage stood at about 955,000 acre-feet, Hetch Hetchy was nearly full and staff will continue to press for a 10% voluntary demand reduction to avoid a potential 20% cut next year if drought worsens.
Steve Ritchie, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s assistant general manager for water, told commissioners on June 10 that the system’s total reservoir storage is about 955,000 acre-feet — roughly 65 percent of maximum capacity — and that Hetch Hetchy Reservoir was approaching full at about 98 percent.
Ritchie said roughly 493,000 acre-feet of that total are in water-supply reservoirs and that Waterbank — a regional storage facility the PUC uses operationally — was severely depleted at roughly 36 percent. He said the system currently’s storage “is a good reference point,” noting one full year’s demand at recent usage rates would exhaust supplies if no additional inflow arrives.
The most immediate policy recommendation he reiterated to the commission was continuation of a 10 percent voluntary reduction in water use for calendar 2014. Ritchie said sustaining that voluntary cut “defers” the need to move to a 20 percent reduction, which would be significantly more painful for customers and the region.
“Demand has dropped off substantially in the last two weeks,” Ritchie said, pointing to recent data that placed system demand closer to the 10 percent reduction target. He said the PUC will review weekly demand figures and considers the next data point important for determining whether the voluntary program is holding.
Ritchie outlined operations and projects that inform the outlook: the agency has curtailed releases from Cherry Reservoir as part of a plan to feed Waterbank and aims for a January target storage level for Cherry of about 150,000 acre-feet. He said drought-response projects such as the Lower Cherry Aqueduct emergency rehabilitation, San Antonio pump station improvements and Sonoma Valley Water Treatment Plant emergency upgrades will help manage supply reliability.
On legal and regulatory risk, Ritchie said the State Water Resources Control Board has issued curtailment notices to certain post‑1914 water rights holders and is considering measures that could affect pre‑1914 holders. The PUC will monitor and, if necessary, defend its senior water-rights position, he said.
Regional partners and wholesale customers are part of demand-management efforts, Ritchie added. The PUC is preparing local and regional outreach campaigns — newspapers, billboards, transit advertising and other buys — to reinforce individual conservation measures in June and July.
The commission asked staff and regional partners to continue monitoring demand and to return with updated data at the scheduled weekly checkpoints, including further outreach and coordination plans if numbers plateau or rise.
