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SFPUC warns water supply remains precarious; WSIP hits major milestones amid cost pressures
Summary
SFPUC leaders told commissioners that recent storms improved snowpack but reservoir storage remains below average, prompting a 10% voluntary conservation call and accelerated planning for repairs to fire‑damaged conveyance. The WSIP is largely complete but faces cost and schedule overruns on several major projects, including Calaveras Dam.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission heard detailed updates on system water supply and the Water System Improvement Program on Feb. 11, with staff warning that recent storms helped but did not eliminate drought risk.
Deputy General Manager Michael Carlin told the commission the agency has estimated Rim Fire damages and received an insurance advance of $1,600,000. He said staff has applied for roughly $4.4 million in state hazardous‑funding mitigation to offset response costs and that the agency prepared a novel report valuing environmental impacts from the fire.
Assistant General Manager for Water Steve Ritchie said total reservoir storage is about 1 million acre‑feet, roughly 69% of maximum, and that while recent storms raised the snowpack there is still a shortfall versus historical averages. Ritchie said Hetch Hetchy is expected to hold roughly 130,000 acre‑feet by July 1 under current conditions; two to four more significant storms would be needed to reach levels that would assure staff. "We called for voluntary demand reductions of 10% system‑wide," Ritchie said, and noted the mayor issued a directive requiring city departments to reduce consumption by 10% as well.
Ritchie and other staff outlined the March 1 and April 15 notification schedule for customers and said the commission may need to consider emergency measures if conditions worsen. Staff is also planning repair work to the Lower Cherry Aqueduct—damaged in the Rim Fire—with an internal target to have the project in place by Oct. 1 and the possibility of seeking emergency authority to accelerate it.
Dan Wade, new director of the Water System Improvement Program, reported that the combined regional and local WSIP is about 80.4% complete, with 63 of 82 projects finished and roughly $2.7 billion in active construction. But Wade flagged a program forecast that is about $40.4 million over the program baseline, driven by four projects: Alameda Creek recapture, the Regional Groundwater Storage & Recovery program, the New Irvington Tunnel and the Calaveras Dam replacement. On Calaveras, new geotechnical work identified an Area B slide that requires roughly 600,000 cubic yards of additional excavation; current forecasts put that project about $21.8 million over its approved budget.
Wade described mitigation steps: completing contractor rebaseline schedules in March, receiving cost proposals in April and presenting a program rebaseline to the commission at the April 22 meeting. He also outlined progress on the New Irvington and Bay Tunnels (pipe installation and grouting), the Peninsula Pipeline seismic upgrade (contract award under engineer's estimate) and the Alameda Creek recapture project (EIR expected to start in June).
Commissioners asked specific questions about how cost increases would be funded and whether rate impacts are expected; staff indicated the forecast overruns are mostly capital and that the water enterprise will consider reprogramming capital and reserves while seeking to limit operating impacts. The commission also heard public comment urging improved leak monitoring and public transparency on valve failures and lost water volumes.
The commission voted later in the meeting to adopt multi‑year operating and capital budgets and to proceed with the WSIP reporting schedule; staff were directed to report additional detail in the coming quarterly updates.
