The Sierra Mountains may be low on snow this winter, but San Francisco’s Sierra water source is far from running dry.
The Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, the utility system’s primary source of drinking water, is at 85 percent of its capacity, according to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
Tuesday, the California Department of Water Resources announced that the January snowpack for the Sierra Nevada is lower than it has been in decades, at just 19 percent. Read More
The City’s public power program is on track for a summer launch after a $19.5 million contract was approved Tuesday by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
The CleanPowerSF contract with Shell Energy North America now goes to the Board of Supervisors for hearings and analysis, which are expected to begin in January.
"Today, San Francisco moved another step closer towards implementing CleanPowerSF, which will be one of the nation’s cle Read More
A porcelain throne that turns its contents into fertilizer instead of flushing could revolutionize the way The City does business, environmental activists say.
Composting toilets, which do not use water, could provide relief for San Francisco’s deteriorated sewer system and its public defecation problem, said Eric Brooks, who brought the idea to the Public Utilities Commission. Read More
Students at five San Francisco schools will get their own reusable water bottles next month, as school officials are rolling out a pilot program designed to move the district toward compliance with federal and state laws that took effect last summer. Read More
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission has called in an expert to investigate the cause of a pipe break that doused a South San Francisco neighborhood and has put on hold replacements to similarly configured pipes. Read More
Looks like it’s going to be a wet Thanksgiving, after all.
This weekend’s rainy weather appears to be a harbinger of what’s to come later this week, as the National Weather Service predicts another storm system arriving late Wednesday, according to forecaster Austin Cross. Read More
Adding to their financial woes, San Francisco city departments could soon be on the hook for a much larger electricity bill every year. Currently, departments from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which runs Muni, to City Hall enjoy low- or no-cost electricity from the Hetch Hetchy hydroelectric system, which is run by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. The agency subsidizes electricity costs at about $25 million annually. Read More
During the past five years, more than 100 of The City’s largest contracts grew in cost by nearly $300 million — sometimes without the knowledge of San Francisco’s most powerful decision-makers.
That’s according to a new Budget Analyst’s Office report requested by Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, who said he’s fed up with the difficulty of tracking how San Francisco spends its money. Read More
Commercial dog walkers in San Francisco’s parks would be subject to an annual business license fee of up to $250 and be limited to walking seven dogs at a time, under new legislation being introduced Tuesday by Supervisor Scott Wiener. Read More
The City’s ambitious plan to offer residents greener power than PG&E took a significant step forward Tuesday.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission approved a term sheet Tuesday with Shell Energy North America to run CleanPowerSF, The City’s proposed public power program, and next week Supervisor David Campos will introduce it to the Board of Supervisors. Read More
