SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Sept. 15, 2014 -- A major groundwater supply project carried out by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) that will provide a water "savings account" to protect against future drought and earthquakes in the Bay Area has now completed environmental review and is moving forward to construction later this year.
Once completed in 2018, this project will provide 7.2 million gallons of water per day (MGD) through 16 new recovery wells, stations, pumps, and pipelines constructed in the Peninsula to benefit the 2.6 million people in the region who rely on the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System.
The $113-million Regional Groundwater Storage and Recovery project balances the use of both groundwater and surface water in the Peninsula to increase available water supplies during dry years. During years of normal or heavy rainfall, the project will provide additional surface water to partner agencies in San Mateo County to reduce the amount of groundwater pumped from the South Westside Groundwater Basin.
Over time, the reduced pumping will create a groundwater savings account of up to 60,500 acre-feet of water, or 20 billion gallons -- a volume equivalent to that of the SFPUC's Crystal Springs Reservoir.
The project is a partnership between the SFPUC and three San Mateo County agencies: the California Water Services Company (serving South San Francisco and Colma), the City of Daly City and the City of San Bruno. These agencies provide drinking water from two sources -- local groundwater from the South Westside Groundwater Basin and surface water supplies from the SFPUC.
Within the City of San Francisco, the SFPUC is starting construction on the San Francisco Groundwater Supply Project to diversify the City's local water supply portfolio. This project will provide up to four million gallons of local, sustainable groundwater every day
See also:
"New director hired for SFPUC Water System Improvement Program"
"San Francisco stormwater project features gray-green combined approach"
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