U.S. District Court judges aren’t known for using inflammatory language in deciding the weighty issues that come before them on the federal bench. So it was remarkable to read the scorching indictment of a federal agency and two of its scientists last week by Judge Oliver W. Wanger. The case concerns how the government should manage California water supplies and at the same time seek to preserve the Delta smelt, an allegedly endangered species of minnowlike fish.
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New Brita water filters will appear in some Redwood City cafeterias as the elementary school district rushes to figure out how to comply with a federal law mandating drinking water be provided to children during meal times.
The federal law, which was approved as part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, says any school participating in the National School Lunch Program must provide free water to kids.
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For the first time ever, San Francisco’s water is being bathed in ultraviolet waves before flowing to faucets.
The San Francisco Public Utility Commission’s new water treatment facility — which the agency boasts is the largest UV treatment plant in California and third largest in North America — has recently begun shining massive light bulbs though pipes filled with pristine Hetch Hetchy water to decontaminate it.
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Portland, Ore., is dumping 8 million gallons of Mount Hood glacier water down the drain because a 21-year-old man was caught on security camera urinating into a city reservoir. Because Portland’s treated water is stored at five open-air reservoirs in parks, migrating flocks of water birds routinely land there and do their business. Health officials said a healthy person’s urine is sterile, with virtually no risk from such a diluted deposit.
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Crews were continuing to make repairs to a water main that broke in San Francisco's Cow Hollow neighborhood Sunday morning.The 8-inch water supply pipe ruptured at about 7:10 a.m. near Filbert and Broderick streets, a San Francisco Water Department dispatcher said.The water was initially pouring on to surface streets but has been controlled by utility crews who responded to the incident, the dispatcher said.
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Bay Area utility companies have done such a good job conserving water that they are now getting a huge reward: a likely rate increase of at least 47 percent to help make up for the lost revenue in San Francisco’s water system.
Twenty-six Bay Area water districts that rely on San Francisco’s Hetch Hetchy Reservoir are expected to use an average of 143 million gallons of water a day this fiscal year, which is 21 million gallons less than just four years ago.
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By:
Francesca Vietor and Mary Ann Dickinson
03/21/11 9:14 PM
Recently, a small group of media bloggers has been busy riffing about San Francisco’s sewer-odor woes, fueled in part by humor that is short on facts. Some critics even blame water-thrifty toilets for supposedly adding to The City’s sewer problems.
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The Public Utilities Commission $30 million contract with the National Park Service to manage the watershed within Yosemite National Park was approved Tuesday in an 11-0 vote by the Board of Supervisors. The contract ends June 30, 2015.
Eighty percent of the drinking water PUC provides comes from the Hetch Hetchy watershed and it is not filtered because of the high water quality.
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A program subsidizing equipment to capture storm water for irrigation has become so popular that The City doubled the money available and is expanding the storage effort to local schools.
The Discounted Rain Barrel Program, which launched in 2008, has provided nearly $10,000 worth of subsidies for 60-gallon barrels and up to 5,000-gallon cisterns.
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San Francisco tap water is safer to drink than bottled water, according to water agency officials who say they have the testing results to prove it.
In an annual state-mandated water quality report that was mailed to every city resident this week, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission outlined facts about The City's household water supply, including its sources, potential contaminants and water quality regulations.
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