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SFPUC details regional water-supply planning, defends 8.5-year design drought
Summary
Assistant General Manager Steve Ritchie told the commission San Francisco relies on the Tuolumne River for 85% of its water, uses an eight-and-a-half-year design drought as a planning stress test, and is advancing studies of purified-water and groundwater projects while weighing affordability and rate impacts.
San Francisco — At a San Francisco Public Utilities Commission meeting, Assistant General Manager for Water Steve Ritchie outlined the agency’s multi-decade water-supply planning framework and defended the use of an 8.5-year design drought as a conservative modeling tool.
Ritchie told commissioners that about 85% of San Francisco’s supply comes from the Tuolumne River and that the city relies on stored water because its Tuolumne rights are junior in dry years. He said the utility’s long-term planning emphasizes ‘‘Water First’’ — prioritizing supply for drinking water and public health over hydropower — and uses an 8.5‑year drought sequence derived from the 1987–1992 drought as a stress test in environmental review and project modeling. "The consequences…
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