FYI it looks like Isabella is reading incorrectly, likely because its well above 100%. maybe label the vertical axis with aggregate total or system total capacity. Take CA Highway 120 from the park toward Groveland. The middle portion of the watershed from New Don Pedro Reservoir to above Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is characterized by deep canyons and forested terrain. Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System, which serves San Francisco, in 2018. Rizzardo said there was a decent amount of flow into the reservoirs into January, even though weather-wise it was bone dry, a result of lower elevation snow at 4,000 to 6,000 feet making its way into the reservoirs. Data and Tools Turn right on to Hetch Hetchy Road - Evergreen Road and continue another 7.5 miles to the parking area for Hetchy Hetchy Reservoir next to the dam. For example, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park provides 85 percent of San Francisco's total water needs. Remaining Capacity text in the legend should be brown? by the Raker Act. }, 150); Thank you so much for the hard work! We own and operate the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System which serves 2.7 million customers. The Hetch Hetchy reservoir, which supplies water for San Francisco and other parts of the Bay Area, was at 77% of its 360,000-acre-feet storage capacity in January compared to 73% in December, and on Feb. 7, it was up to 82%. Hetchy refers to a valley in the Sierra Nevada and a reservoir that Most local reservoir inflow timeseries are too short to calculate long-term values. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. So included in DWR #S. not passed until 1928 five years after the dam was built. The water system, which includes the landmark Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, is expected to fill this winter, for the first time since 2019, with nearly 1.5 million acre-feet of water. I dont know if weve seen anything like this in October before.". The overall storage is said to have dropped by 57.4 to 56.4 (or 302 kaf). proposed as a source of water following the 1906 San Francisco Francisco Bay Area. To reach Hetch Hetchy, you have to exit Yosemite National Park and re-enter it. Shasta is very large and could hold about 3.5 cubic kilometers of water at full (but not flood) capacity. "It was a very healthy shot in the arm. Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite was 69 percent full on Tuesday, 150 percent of normal for this time of year. California reservoir levels: . The blue line indicates the reservoirs water level one year ago today. Thanks for the link. } The BAWSCA agencies are therefore key stakeholders in ensuring the system serves as a reliable source of high quality water. Water is such a fascinating topic and Id hate to have to be a water manager making a decision on how much to release to avoid reservoir flooding. Over the summer, Gov. Its promising, but too early to let our guard down, said Joseph Sweiss, spokesman for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the citys water purveyor, in an email to The Chronicle. How can I match up other monitoring locations similar to the ones on this Interactive Dashboard? Water is rapidly flowing into the state's reservoirs. Gavin Newsom asked all California residents to voluntarily reduce use by 15% compared with use in 2019. Copyright 2023Water Education Foundation. UPDATE: Here's where California reservoir levels stand after this week's rains. During most years, there will be a 30-day shut down of the Hetch Hetchy source in the winter months. drained by the Tuolumne A diverse mix of sources protects us from potential disruptions due to emergencies or natural disasters, provides resiliency during periods of drought, and helps us ensure a long-term, sustainable water supply as we address issues such as climate uncertainty, regulatory changes and population growth. California boosts water deliveries to highest level in years, thanks to storms, California reservoir levels: Charts show water supply across the state, Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area. located in a national park and it passed the Raker Act in 1913 to 2151 River Plaza Drive, Suite 205 Awesome work!! . Saved to my favorites now. Begin at O'Shaughnessy Dam. They placed a few dissipators just before the river. It looks like the red and blue lines are backwards on Folsom. The water is delivered by a gravity-based system and aqueduct to Love the dashboard! The half-hour drive to Hetch Hetchy from CA Highway 120 begins outside the park boundaries. Thats a great suggestion and one that would be particularly helpful! Current conditions of LAKE OR RESERVOIR WATER SURFACE ELEVATION ABOVE NGVD 1929 and RESERVOIR STORAGE are available. Monitoring location 11277500 is associated with a LAKE, RESERVOIR, IMPOUNDMENT in TUOLUMNE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. Great Job on this site! This is a very clear graph and I cannot imagine the hours you have put in while setting it up and doing the maintenance. How come the totals disagree with the cal map graphic? John Muir and the Related articles . Weve been at zero now for several weeks, and we really want to see that turn around., Kellie Hwang and Yoohyun Jung are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. The Hetch Hetchy Valley today with the dam seen in the lower right. A dry January with little rainfall across much of Northern California actually didnt hurt the states water storage levels, according to data from the California Department of Water Resources. I am new to the state. It didnt end the drought, but it was definitely really good," said Ritchie. Thank you for a beautiful job. For the first week of February, there was a slight increase for most reservoirs from January amounts. This is an excellent tool you have put together. Absolutely zero reason to be releasing this much water from these reservoirs. Part of the lake is on the California side, but it has zero California water impact beyond the immediate Tahoe residents. https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/11275500/#parameterCode=00054&period=P7D. If you click on the list button in the top right of the dashboard, it will show a list of the reservoirs (in order of size from largest to smallest) and you can check which ones you would like to display. A question: the Historical Avg*, is it the value of year-today or natural year? How can I apply to SFPUC? Its water supply Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, in the Sierra Nevada is 80% full, . Thanks for taking the time to do that. CHERRY LK NR HETCH HETCHY CA Important Legacy real-time page Monitoring location 11277200 is associated with a LAKE, RESERVOIR, IMPOUNDMENT in TUOLUMNE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. Ive added it to my bookmarks for quick reference. I havent spent much time looking at it but that data is on the CDEC website. Even with the latest precipitation, Folsoms values was unchanged. Privacy Policy | 2011-2021 San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. For detailed analysis of how San Franciscos water system will operate without Hetch Hetchy reservoir, see the Environmental Defense Funds studiesParadise RegainedandCherry Intertie Alternative. I love this this site too. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. All of this work is nothing short of brilliant. February 21, 2023 - BAWSCA Statement on State Water Resources Control Board'sSchedule for Consideration of a Voluntary Agreement for the Tuolumne River. 95 percent of. Find out more about the system at http://www.sfwater.org, BAWSCA Board Policy Committee Meeting, April 12, 2023 1:30pm. They are draining it currently so that it can serve as that overflow if needed given how much rain is coming down and expected over the next week. The commission plans to decide Nov. 23 whether to formally ask customers to conserve water. sends student to hospital, Heres how much rain and snow is on the way this weekend, Your Privacy Choices (Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads). Sometimes this is well done sometimes it is poorly done. This system encompasses more than 1,250 miles of distribution pipelines, as well as 12 in-City reservoirs and eight water tanks with a total storage capacity of approximately 413 million gallons. Winter weather conditions may cause road closures. The problem is that we have no idea of knowing ahead of time what kind of storms well have and how long theyll last, but the reservoir operators have to be super careful and extra cautious, so they periodically let the water flow out. The snowpack there, which will eventually melt and flow into reservoirs, is already bigger than the average peak snowpack, which typically comes around April 1. Near the town of La Grange, the river exits the Sierra Nevada foothills and flows through a gently sloping alluvial valley that is incised into Pleistocene alluvial fans. However, I am interested in how much we are saving. Next feature request: wire in aquifer level data! SFPUC said as of this week, the Hetch Hetchy reservoir is at 92 percent capacity. California drought: Charts show where reservoir levels stand after a dry January, Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area. She joined the Chronicle as a data reporter in 2021. Shasta is the reservoir with the largest capacity and so it is the tallest row. I had a class in spillway design many years ago. Current conditions of LAKE OR RESERVOIR WATER SURFACE ELEVATION ABOVE NGVD 1929 and RESERVOIR STORAGE are available. function reloadiframes(){ An official website of the United States government. With modest additional investments San Francisco will be able to maintain an uninterrupted supply of high quality Tuolumne River water. What happened to the Hetch Hetchy level? Each row represents one reservoir, with bars showing how much of the reservoir is filled (blue) and unfilled (brown). Water data back to 1956 are available online. Hetch Hetchy water travels 160 miles via gravity from Yosemite to the San Francisco Bay Area. Id only be interested in the totals from Oroville and Shasta. A separate vote would have been California snowpack hits highest level this century for March. So they should be saving much more and deal with the .000001 of risk later. For some strange unknown reason, they are not allowing the lake to fill up. Maybe bad data. You can also use it to monitor only the reservoirs you are most interested in. A 1 week change would be interesting to show on each. Jeff, the average changes daily as well. Congress had to approve the project because it was rejected by an appellate court and the California Supreme Court That includes the Tuolumne River, which provides water via Hetch Hetchy Reservoir to Bay Area customers. The worst possible scenario is it just remains completely dry. The cities of Burlingame, Hayward, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Redwood City and San Mateo, along with the Alameda County Water District, were among Bay Area communities whose support was influential in persuading Congress to pass the controversial Act, and President Woodrow Wilson to sign it. Could you also do the same for the Colorado River reservoirs to see how they are fairing? Its essential to understand that the dispute over San Franciscos use of Hetch Hetchy is not about the use of water only how it is stored. I dont think its currently above the historical average, not below 1 year ago. McClintock bill proposes to improve public access at Hetch Hetchy. finding an alternative water and power source (Hetchy Hetchy also At the height of the recent drought, they still had at least four years in storage. And for the years they were hoarding water, the salmon-based ecosystem suffered.. So on Jan 10 were at 82% of the average for Jan 10. The north (side of the reservoir) usually has two waterfalls going at the best of times, but youll see up and down the canyon walls, if you look close, you count there are about 12 waterfalls running now, said Steve Ritchie, the SFPUCs assistant general manager of water enterprise, during a recent drought report to the agencys governing board. BAWSCA agencies also are implementing water conservation and water recycling projects to help preserve this precious resource for their communities, and are working to identify alternate sources of water supply. Prior to The Chronicle, she worked as a data journalist for Honolulu Civil Beat, a watchdog news organization covering the Hawaiian islands. Much of the recent inflow was to Hetch Hetchy, which can hold. No it is correct. San Francisco will be in great shape going into 2023, said Spreck Rosekrans, executive director of Restore Hetch Hetchy Its unfortunate that too little is being done with these flows to recharge groundwater basins to help cities and farms and even restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley., Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. In another sign that Californias drought is easing, San Francisco captured more than a years worth of water in just one months time. In addition, San Francisco receives approximately one-tenth of its power from hydroelectricity generated by the gravity-driven flow from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. She was previously an engagement reporter. Nate, thanks for the insight. Yep. Delivery rates are 7-day average values. Current conditions of LAKE OR RESERVOIR WATER SURFACE ELEVATION ABOVE NGVD 1929 and RESERVOIR STORAGE are available. How Much Water is in California Reservoirs? Its not possible to see or really interact with the tiniest slivers. From the main road, it's about a 20- to 25-minute drive to the parking area. Californias snowpack slips below average after dismally dry January, renewing concerns about drought, Busting water limits wont cost you in Marin County: Penalties canceled as rain fills reservoirs, California snowpack hits highest level this century for March. Eighty-five percent of the water comes from Sierra Nevada snowmelt stored in the Hetch Hetchy reservoir situated on the Tuolumne River in Yosemite National Park. Sacramento CA 95833, Everything about California water that matters, Western States Water Agencies and Districts. She was born and raised in the Bay Area and got her start in news at the Daily Californian newspaper at UC Berkeley where she majored in English literature. the issue, including those under Franklin Delano Roosevelt, I like the comparisons of last year, and the historical average. "Soils that have become hydrophobic due to wildfire can also contribute to increased runoff because the water is less able to penetrate the burned soil," the department said. Thats a very poor design. The Mokolumne River, which originates in the high Sierra, provides more than 90 percent of the East Bay's water and the Owens Valley in the eastern Sierra serves as a key source of water for Los Angeles. It takes a fair amount of work to make graphs compared to other more plug-and-play libraries but its very customizable, which is a plus. Voters rejected a 2012 While constructed and owned by San Francisco, the water system was in fact planned to benefit the greater San Francisco Bay Area population. In whats known as the Bay-Delta Plan, state water regulators are amid a years-long effort to negotiate a policy for how much water should be kept in rivers that flow to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to meet the needs of both people and wildlife. The captured water is piped 150 miles to the Bay Area. hetch hetchy reservoir level percentage Rivers and Streams Streams draining into the Peninsula Watershed within the project area are relatively small, steep, and in a 2021-11-17. The water travels through a series of pipelines before it reaches the Bay Area and blends with five local reservoirs. It carried workers and materials for the dam, as well as tourists, postage and other amenities. Quite an eye opener. I previously made a bar graph showing the overall level of water in the major California reservoirs. Restore Hetch Hetchy. She has been with SFGATE for more than 10 years. And the current water storage amounts are well below the historical averages for this time of year. For perspective, water demand across the SFPUCs service area of 2.7 million people was about 205,000 acre-feet last fiscal year. Reservoir levels rising. A truly excellent project. . The advocacy group Restore Hetch Hetchy took its case for But Sites would be what's called an off-channel . supplies water to the San Francisco Bay Area. Local reservoir inflows have negative daily flow rates set to zero. Copyright Barry Rokeach, 2014. But they'll cost you, Fight at high school basketball game in S.F. Some want the city to leave more water in stream channels for threatened salmon while others continue a longshot bid to shut down Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite altogether and return the area to its natural state. Twenty of San If we reach 100% after the current rains and then it stops raining for the season, then our percentage will start going down. So my question is, How do we know if we are saving the water for later release (late summer) or are we releasing it to the ocean? I live close to Eastman Lake. The trail takes you to the base of Wapama Falls, passing two smaller waterfalls (during spring) on the way. During the winter months, they let water out of the reservoirs in anticipation of large storms. Thats just another very strong indication visually that its a big water year.. All rights Sierra Club unsuccessfully fought the reservoirs establishment Hetch Hetchy is only one of nine reservoirs in the San Francisco Public Utility Commissions water system. Impounded by OShaughnessy Dam, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir water passes through hydroelectric powerhouses before it enters the San Joaquin Pipelines, the Tesla Ultraviolet Treatment Facility, and the Coast Range Tunnel on its journey to the Bay Area. The Bay Area portion of the System includes water collection, treatment, and transmission facilities from the Alameda East Portal to the wholesale service area and terminal reservoirs in San Francisco. Thanks for the prompt reply! November 10, 2022 - BAWSCA Statement on State Water-Policy Officials, SFPUC, and Districts Sign MOU for Tuolumne River to Help Recover Salmon While Protecting Water Reliability. Lake Almanor isnt controlled by DWR for flood/supply. P.S. DWR is one of many local, State and Federal entities that dictate water releases. Similar to the water supply issues discussed above, the amount of power replacement is small in a statewide context less than of 1% of the renewable power supply being developed this decade alone. Amy Graff is the news editor for SFGATE. Although Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is the most well-known, it stores less than 25% of the systems water. I find myself coming back to this every few days to check on our water . According to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir can store as much as 117 billion gallons for the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System, which serves San Francisco, Santa Clara, Alameda and San Mateo counties. Just a wistful thought, it would be really cool to graph the water release statistics. This hike follows the shoreline of the reservoir with moderate up and downhill hiking. Thinking more about it. It used to be full (and beyond). Your Privacy Choices (Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads). Hetch Hetchy Water System The system originates more than 100 miles from its primary customers, in Yosemite National Park. Diamond Valley Lake is a man-made storage reservoir for storing imported water only. The judge also noted the provision of the state . The upcountry portion of the System begins with Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park. It could be the 180% of historical average of snowpack, which will be melting in a couple months. San Franciscos Hetch Hetchy water system is almost full for the first time in years. The only improvement I would ask you to consider is to allow the Y-axis to be Linear or Log, the latter allowing us to see all the small reservoirs quite easily. Climbers Timmy O'Neill (left) and Lucho Rivera atop a wall overlooking Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Long-term values for reservoir inflows use maximum number of complete water years in record. and its snowmelt-fed water supply, water from Hetch Hetchy Hetch Hetchy water travels 160 miles via gravity from Yosemite to the San Francisco Bay Area. The 1913 Raker Act authorized the unprecedented dam inside the park and also set the fee that the city pays to rent the entire valley in which the dam sits: $30,000 per year. Reservoir behind OShaughnessy Dam does not require filtration. "It is unknown how much area of the Feather River and Shasta Lake drainages are impacted by hydrophobic soils.". What rates am I paying? The Department of Water Resources, which manages the state's water supply, said in a statement that there are several possible reasons for the difference in inflow amounts between the two reservoirs. I will take a look and see if there are other important reservoirs missing and may add them in the future. Best of luck out there in California! In response to the Bay-Delta Plan, the SFPUC and the Modesto and Turlock Irrigation Districts have proposed the Tuolumne River Voluntary Agreement, a combination of flow and non-flow measures sufficient to improve all life-stages of native fish populations in the lower Tuolumne River. The name Hetch Hetchy is derived from a Sierra Miwok Last week, I paid a visit to Hetch Hetchy. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Compared to the historical snowpack for this time of year, the May 2021 survey shows that we are only 2 to 5 percent of normal. Occasionally the source water will shift to local reservoirs during routine maintenance to the conveyance system. generates electricity for the city). How do I pay my bill? If you are on a computer, you can hover your cursor over a reservoir and the dashboard at the top will provide information about that individual reservoir. 1 covering up to $875 million and much of the rest coming from federal loans to water suppliers. Great visualization Chris! It can take several days to see the full impact on reservoirs as water continues to run through watersheds and into streams in the days after a storm. If a reservoir gets filled to 100% and more, the dam will break and many cities will get flooded, so the operators are careful. My guess would be that the recent systems have been cold and so they are predominantly dropping snow on the watershed. Omar, Thanks! Greetings from Mount Laurel New Jersey. Steve Ritchie, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission's assistant general manager for water, said the additional water amounted to roughly 11% of the reservoir's total capacity. Is the Stanley Quencher tumbler worth its TikTok hype? document.getElementById('globes').contentWindow.location.reload(); A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. Lots of possibilities, just curious. The SFPUC hoards water in dry years when they dont need to, said Peter Drekmeier, policy director at the conservation group Tuolumne River Trust. however, Ill update the code to include it soon. Lake ShastaLevel before the storm on Oct. 22: 882.57 feetLevel after the storm on Nov. 1: 885.47 feetTotal rise: 2.9 feet, Storage before the storm: 970,859 acre-feetStorage after the storm: 1,001,879 acre-feetTotal storage increase: 31,020 acre-feet, Lake OrovilleLevel before the storm: 630.80 feetLevel after the storm: 661.20 feetTotal rise: 30.4 feet, Storage before the storm: 799,638 acre-feetStorage after the storm: 982,263 acre-feetTotal storage increase: 182,625 acre-feet, Hetch HetchyLevel before the storm: 3,729.68 feetLevel after the storm: 3,750.99 feetTotal rise: 21.31 feet, Storage before the storm: 221,500 acre-feetStorage after the storm: 257,800 acre-feetTotal storage increase: 36,300 acre-feet, Trinity LakeLevel before the storm: 2,209.55 feetLevel after the storm: 2,213.22 feetTotal rise: 3.67 feet, Storage before the storm: 648,675 acre-feetStorage after the storm: 672,930 acre-feetTotal storage increase: 24,255 acre-feet, Folsom LakeLevel before the storm: 370.28 feetLevel after the storm: 390.33 feetTotal rise: 20.05 feet, Storage before the storm: 214,225 acre-feetStorage after the storm: 318,577 acre-feetTotal storage increase: 104,352 acre-feet, New Melones LakeLevel before the storm: 916.28 feetLevel after the storm: 917.09 feetTotal rise: 0.81 feet, Storage before the storm: 822,619 acre-feetStorage after the storm: 827,786 acre-feetTotal storage increase: 5,167 acre-feet, Don PedroLevel before the storm: 723.96 feetLevel after the storm: 727.41 feetTotal rise: 3.45 feet, Storage before the storm: 970,226 acre-feetStorage after the storm: 995,836 acre-feetTotal storage increase: 25,610 acre-feet, McClureLevel before the storm: 663.70 feetLevel after the storm: 672.27 feetTotal rise: 8.4 feet, Storage before the storm: 180,900 acre-feetStorage after the storm: 198,467 acre-feetTotal storage increase: 17,210 acre-feet. Wife of missing Bay Area radio host says Jeffrey Vandergrift will not Sen. Dianne Feinstein is hospitalized in San Francisco with shingles, California extends deadline to file 2022 income taxes to match IRS decision, Going to Tahoe this weekend? System for more than 60 percent of their drinking water. The OShaughnessy Dam i s 300 feet tall only medium-sized by todays standards. The current power produced by the SFPUC system, although not carbon-based, is not green since it requires the continued destruction of significant habitat. There is something strange about the data over the last two days (Jan.17 to Jan. 19): Hetch Hetchy Level before the storm: 3,729.68 feet Level after the storm: 3,750.99 feet Total rise: 21.31 feet Storage before the storm: 221,500 acre-feet Storage after the storm: 257,800. These sources are diverse in both the origin of the supply snowmelt, rainfall and recharge of groundwater and their location within our system. It does not meet the California definition of renewable energy. Delivering approximately 260 million gallons of water per day, the regional system consists of over 280 miles of pipelines, over 60 miles of tunnels, 11 reservoirs, five pump stations and two water treatment plants. Thanks for providing it for public information. For example, the average storage level for Feb. 7 is usually 65% of capacity for Trinity Dam, but currently its at 31%. Why is Lake Nacimiento and Lake San Antonio not listed? The question was, what constitutes unreasonable method of It is also the amount of water in a cube that is 352 feet per side (about the length of a football field). It was my first time using D3 and it took me a long time to get up to speed. Assistant General Manager for Water Steven Ritchie credits the way the system is managed along with lower. Official websites use .gov Secure .gov websites use HTTPS Yes, and why is Twitchell Dam also not listed? Love easy to read and understand information. There are many very small reservoirs (relative to Shasta) so the bars will be very thin to the point where they are barely a sliver or may not even show up. I would turn this graph, 90 counterclockwise, and start the capacity along the bottom axis from left to right, with the biggest reservoirs on the left and the smaller ones on the right. draining the reservoir to court, arguing in 2015 that the This dashboard is great! This would allow us to see important, but noise-level reservoirs like hetch hetchy. globe.height = globe.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+40+"px"; San Francisco's water-bank in Don Pedro Reservoir, downstream on the Tuolumne River, holds twice as much water as Hetch Hetchy. Could the reason be that the water from Lake Alma or seems to be used for energy generation, and that there does not seem to be any agricultural or urban use?