S.F. Fighting Itself Over Water?!?

SFPUC is going to try to solve the Bay Delta Water crisis (and lawsuits), in part by reducing their demand projections?!?!?.  I don’t know if this means curtailing population expansions, or asking us all to conserve more to cram in more people & profits for builders, but this has gotta be must-see-TV (well, Webinar).  Keep in mind that the vast majority of HMB and Pacifica water comes from SFPUC and their system.  Read the email I just got, below, and attend the Webinar at 2pm Friday, July 16 (tomorrow, agenda link provided below).

From: Peter Drekmeier <[email protected]> > Date: July 15, 2021 at 09:26:06 PDT
> To: Peter Drekmeier <[email protected]> > Subject: Important SFPUC Workshop Tomorrow
>
> Hi Folks,
>
> Tomorrow from 2-5pm, the SFPUC will host a workshop on water demand projections. It will be online, and we hope you’ll be able to participate. The agenda is posted at https://sfpuc.org/sites/default/files/about-us/commission/July%2016%20Special%20Meeting%20Agenda.pdf
>
> This workshop is important because the Commission will consider possible changes to water demand protections, which we believe are inflated. If they adopt more realistic projections, commit to developing alternative water supplies (a workshop in September will address this), and shorten the length of their Design Drought (a workshop in October will address this), they should be able to manage the unimpaired flows required by the Bay Delta Water Quality Control Plan. We hope this will lead them to drop their lawsuit over the Plan.
>
> In other somewhat recent news, Supervisor Peskin’s resolution addressing San Francisco’s recent lawsuit was approved unanimously last month with a few modifications (it doesn’t call for pausing the litigation, but otherwise is very good). You can read about it at https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/6/15/2035395/-San-Francisco-Supervisors-Approve-Resolution-Protecting-the-Tuolumne-River-and-Clean-Water
>
> Also last month, the SFPUC officially nominated City Attorney Dennis Herrera to serve as the new General Manager. The Mayor hasn’t appointed him yet, but it’s just a matter of time. You can read about it at https://www.sfchronicle.com/local-politics/article/SFPUC-endorses-City-Attorney-Dennis-Herrera-as-16252697.php
>
> We hope you can join us tomorrow.
>
> -Peter
>
> ———————–
> Peter Drekmeier
> Policy Director
> Tuolumne River Trust
> [email protected]
> (415) 882-7252

What is strange about this is that:

a. Per that SF Resolution, the City Board of Supervisors seems to have agreed with the Conservationists and the State that the Tuolumne must be preserved:

The resolution reiterates the City’s support for improved protections for the Tuolumne River, the San Joaquin River, critical salmon runs and the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary.

In 2018 the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) required San Francisco and the other diverters on the Tuolumne to reduce diversions. The SFPUC refused to comply and has since filed two lawsuits against the State. The second suit, filed on May 13, attempts to block the SWRCB’s “401 certification” regarding the Tuolumne River before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. That State Board action imposed stronger flow requirements on the Tuolumne River.

and…

b. Herrera, the current City Attorney who sued the State to STOP the Bay-Delta plan to protect the river, has just been nominated by the MAYOR to run SFPUC.  So it would seem there’s a built-in conflict waiting to happen.

I don’t know where this is going, but that fact that it’s a special meeting tells us that the City is truly concerned about our water supply.  Be There!