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. Good info to know. do so. "It was a very healthy shot in the arm. Restore Hetch Hetchy. word for a type of wild grass. . While it may seem that Decembers production could get us through the rest of the season, Rizzardo explains that in hydrology, you need consistent water shed to keep soils happy. He fears that without more precipitation this season, well enter our third very dry year. Curt, Good point re the colder weather dropping more snow instead of rain at higher elevations this year. https://cdec.water.ca.gov/dynamicapp/QueryDaily?s=HTH Previously, Kellie covered dining news and trends, visual arts, events and nightlife for the Arizona Republic, and freelanced for the former Contra Costa Times. Thats up more than 400,000 acre-feet since early December, before the unrelenting series of atmospheric river storms blew through California between Christmas and mid-January. Reservoir levels rising. Wapama Falls (moderate) 5 mi (8 km) round-trip; 2 hours. located in a national park and it passed the Raker Act in 1913 to 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. From the main road, it's about a 20- to 25-minute drive to the parking area. By a large measure, damming and flooding Hetch Hetchy is the most significant damage ever allowed in any of our national parks. Important Legacy real-time page. Tracy Barbutes, Freelance / Special to The Chronicle, Heres where California reservoir levels stand after this weeks rains. looks like the CDEC website is the cause of the issue unless it actually dropped 90% in a day: One acre-foot is the equivalent of one acre of land covered in one foot of water. Copyright Barry Rokeach, 2014. Why is it not listed? Great visualization Chris! Thank you so much for the hard work! Hetch Hetchy has generated controversy since it was first Love the dashboard! The SFPUC gets the bulk of its water from a network of reservoirs in the central Sierra Nevada that have long altered flows of the Tuolumne River and its tributaries. Lock City officials have touted their efforts to help salmon, for example by timing water releases to assist with migration and restoring breeding grounds. McClintock bill proposes to improve public access at Hetch Hetchy. Echoing the sentiments of famed naturalist John Muir, members say the glacially-carved Hetch Hetchy Valley that the reservoir sits in is comparable in grandeur to Yosemite Valley and should not be flooded. System for more than 60 percent of their drinking water. Thanks for taking the time to do that. We provide water directly to customers in San Francisco and wholesale through 26 Water agencies in Alameda, Santa Clara, and San Mateo counties. The soaking was welcome in a drought-plagued state with a diminishing water supply. Local reservoir inflows have negative daily flow rates set to zero. }, false); Lake Tahoe really isnt part of California water, as the outflow goes to Nevada. While constructed and owned by San Francisco, the water system was in fact planned to benefit the greater San Francisco Bay Area population. Also a little nit. So many facets beautifully chartered. scenic mountain valley in a national park. Its just small enough that the name doesnt appear as the bar is too thin. Trinity Lake, with a capacity of 2,447,650 acre-feet, had the smallest increase, from 29% in December to 30% in January. Top ways to experience Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and nearby attractions Yosemite: Audio Driving Tour 1 Full-day Tours from $9.99 per group (up to 8) Private Yosemite Explorer Package | 3 Days of Adventure 3 Private and Luxury from $750.00 per adult (price varies by group size) Private Family Photo Day in Yosemite 78 Recommended Full-day Tours from The Bay Area's main reservoir is up 21 feet. It updates hourly using data from the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) website, giving an up-to-date picture of California reservoir levels. The remaining 15 percent of water comes from runoff in the Alameda and Peninsula watersheds. I live in the central valley. The group says the recent plethora of water shows that the city could do without Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, by using other storage facilities that have filled and pursuing new projects to capture the surplus. FYI it looks like Isabella is reading incorrectly, likely because its well above 100%. Why isnt Lake Sonoma included? Monitoring location 11275500 is associated with a LAKE, RESERVOIR, IMPOUNDMENT in TUOLUMNE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. proposition that would have funded an $8 million study on how Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System The Hetch Hetchy watershed, an area located in Yosemite National Park, is the major source of water for all of San Francisco's water needs. "It is unknown how much area of the Feather River and Shasta Lake drainages are impacted by hydrophobic soils.". For the first week of February, there was a slight increase for most reservoirs from January amounts. Although Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is the most well-known, it stores less than 25% of the systems water. Hetchy Reservoir can store as much as 117 billion gallons for the Thank you! The OShaughnessy Dam, which was completed in 1938 and is 430-feet tall, impounds water in Hetch Hetchy Reservoir for communities in the Bay Area. . Historical average is near unattainable these days. the city wastes water, so it was a moot issue. Reservoir behind OShaughnessy Dam does not require filtration. We own and operate the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System which serves 2.7 million customers. 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. Heres an example of that data for Shasta, where you can see the daily inflows and outflows: For perspective, water demand across the SFPUCs service area of 2.7 million people was about 205,000 acre-feet last fiscal year. You can also use it to monitor only the reservoirs you are most interested in. Begin at O'Shaughnessy Dam. Saved to my favorites now. Water data back to 1956 are available online. The trail takes you to the base of Wapama Falls, passing two smaller waterfalls (during spring) on the way. pertained to water that was wasted, and there was no claim that The SFPUC has also raised concerns over the fishery benefits of the States Plan. 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. Love this. 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? and its snowmelt-fed water supply, water from Hetch Hetchy Water storage facilities include watersheds, dams, and reservoirs including: Calaveras, San Antonio, Crystal Springs, Pilarcitos, and San Andreas. The snowpack acts as a natural reservoir and slowly releases water.. A truly excellent project. environmental context. Crystal Springs Reservoir, along Highway 280 in San Mateo County, was 89 percent . Water data back to 1930 are available online. It is on the graph. For example, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park provides 85 percent of San Francisco's total water needs. It would be really interesting to visualize whether were able to replenish ground water this year after all the precipitation. While the rainfall has been bad for many people, I am happy to see Californias reservoirs are benefiting slightly, Amen! 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. It didnt end the drought, but it was definitely really good," said Ritchie. 2013, photo, the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is hazy with smoke . For each of the top 8 reservoirs the storage has increased by a total of 217 kaf, however). and maybe another vertical axis to the right of that with reservoir capacity. If you look at the inflow data on the major reservoirs, its pretty flat. Related articles . This is the best one out there. California drought: Charts show where reservoir levels stand after a dry January, Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area. Northern California's reservoir levels continued to rise in the week after an atmospheric river slammed the state with torrential rain and high winds. GNSS2 - Level 2 Quality Survey Grade Global Navigation Satellite System. Ive added it to my bookmarks for quick reference. Its supposed to be brown. lawsuit, saying Restore Hetch Hetchys arguments were preempted The Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite delivers water to 2.6 million Bay Area residents every day. 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. Californias largest water agencies, in both the urban and agricultural sectors, have invested in ambitious groundwater banking programs inKern County. San Francisco voters have demonstrated their opposition to UPDATE: Here's where California reservoir levels stand after this week's rains. But the growing water reserves dont please everyone. Hetch Hetchy water travels 160 miles via gravity from Yosemite to the San Francisco Bay Area. required on whether to demolish OShaughnessy Dam. If you are on a mobile device you can tap the reservoir to get that same info. Greetings from Mount Laurel New Jersey. Just a wistful thought, it would be really cool to graph the water release statistics. The water is delivered by a gravity-based system and aqueduct to That said, most of its outflow makes its way down Feather River (via Rock Creek Reservoir) and ultimately into Orville. Even with the latest precipitation, Folsoms values was unchanged. Santa Clara, Alameda and San Mateo counties. Even with all the rain and floods, still a long way to fill them to capacity. It certainly looks dry at least until the last week in February, he said. Part of the lake is on the California side, but it has zero California water impact beyond the immediate Tahoe residents. not passed until 1928 five years after the dam was built. Its fluctuating between ~107% and ~20% from one hour to the next (reading 107.6 atm). Absolutely zero reason to be releasing this much water from these reservoirs. And while one storm didn't come close to ending the drought, some reservoirs in Northern California, especially those that fell right in the path of the storm, saw significant gains. If we reach 100% after the current rains and then it stops raining for the season, then our percentage will start going down. I also added the ability to select specific reservoirs to display on the graph and share a custom URL which will point those selected reservoirs (click on list button on top right of dashboard). Your tools are awesome just hurts when you receive bad data at times! Ive looked at reservoir sights for years. United States. I am new to the state. Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite was 69 percent full on Tuesday, 150 percent of normal for this time of year. I would like to make one small suggestion:. Thats a very poor design. Long-term values for reservoir inflows use maximum number of complete water years in record. Isabella is filling quite slowly in order to test out the new $500 million spillway. How can I match up other monitoring locations similar to the ones on this Interactive Dashboard? Wonderful site. Francisco Public Utilities Commissions 26 wholesale customers Super frustrating. 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 construction of the Hetch Hetchy Railroad took place from 1915 to 1918. The area around Shasta has more volcanic soils that absorb rainfall than the Feather River drainage. Lake Mendocino, which has a capacity of 122,400 acre feet, saw the biggest boost from 17% of storage capacity in December to 35% in January. San Franciscos water-bank in Don Pedro Reservoir, downstream on the Tuolumne River, holds twice as much water as Hetch Hetchy. Another not monitored by the State? 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. Generation at the Kirkwood power plant would depend on the natural flow of the Tuolumne River, and would be significantly diminished during late summer and fall. BAWSCA Board of Directors Meeting, March 16, 2023, 6:30 PM. window.addEventListener("orientationchange", function() { It has no natural inflow or out flow. O'Shaughnessy Dam is a 430-foot (131 m) high concrete arch-gravity dam in Tuolumne County, California, United States.It impounds the Tuolumne River, forming the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir at the lower end of Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park, about 160 miles (260 km) east of San Francisco. The new 68-mile (109 km) railroad wound its way up the narrow canyon of the Tuolumne River past sharp curves and up steep 4% grades. reserved. Draining Hetch Hetchy without depriving Bay Area residents of Thanks. The middle portion of the watershed from New Don Pedro Reservoir to above Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is characterized by deep canyons and forested terrain. Arg. } For perspective, water demand across the SFPUC's service area of 2.7 million people was about 205,000 acre-feet last fiscal year. Nate, thanks for the insight. As of 5pm on 1/18, the data appears correct (~58k acre feet), but an hour ago it was reading off the chart (3X above what they are allowed to store right now). A 1 week change would be interesting to show on each. Construction of the regional water system proceeded over the following 20 years, with water first delivered in 1934. Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System, which serves San Francisco, The average for this time of year is approximately 4,659.57ft, plus or minus 39ft. The remaining 15 percent of water comes from runoff in the Alameda and Peninsula watersheds. Exclusive: Stunning photos show Yosemite National Park under 15 feet of Warriors treating Andrew Wiggins with understandable patience, but his California snowpack hits highest level this century for March, could Map shows which parts of California exceeded entire years worth of rain, Map shows stunning improvement in California drought, Last chance to see: Bay Bridge lights turn off on Sunday. it will be cool if there is a way to track the change since Dec or some such date. The source water from SFPUC is typically from the Hetch Hetchy reservoir located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The Water Education Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-exempt, YTD values are from January 1 . The worst possible scenario is it just remains completely dry. Add a button to convert the row heights to log scale. 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. But Sites would be what's called an off-channel . 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. Before joining the Chronicle, Alexander worked as a freelance writer and as a staff reporter for several media organizations, including The Fresno Bee and Bay Area News Group, writing about government, politics and the environment. 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. Read more about the data team and their work. around the Bay Area rely on the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water Reservoir Report 4,670 ft -0.02% today 100% of normal Normal Water lake or reservoir water surface elevation above ngvd 1929, ft at Cherry Lk Nr Hetch Hetchy Ca is currently 4,670 ft, approximately 100% of normal. Forty-six percent . Really appreciate the work you did to build this graph. During most years, there will be a 30-day shut down of the Hetch Hetchy source in the winter months. This chart only shows reservoirs filled via natural flow/rainfall. His recent work has examined the impacts of drought, threats to public lands and wildlife, and the nation's widening rural-urban divide. supplies water to the San Francisco Bay Area. Congress had to approve the project because it was Having it here would be great! The extensive amount of storage, which is designed to benefit the Bay Area as droughts become more severe with climate change, has become a sticking point in a longstanding environmental battle over how much water the city should be taking from rivers. Monitoring location 11277500 is associated with a LAKE, RESERVOIR, IMPOUNDMENT in TUOLUMNE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. the map graph doesnt include berryessa. As the system aged, especially in an era of heightened safety awareness following the Loma Prieta Earthquake in 1989 and drought in the 1990s, it became evident that the system required a complete overhaul. Im curious: Lk Almanor is the 8th largest reservoir in CA. Could you also show each reservoirs level as a function of time? LK ELEANOR NR HETCH HETCHY CA. 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. Thank you for a beautiful job. Thank you for the time and effort in creating the graphs. https://engaging-data.com/ca-reservoir-level/ California reservoir levels: . Born in Seoul, Yoohyun began her career in Arizona, where she worked for two of the state's largest newspapers covering various beats, including criminal justice and education. The SFPUC has voiced concerns with the Plan, as it would dramatically reduce the agencys water supply, leaving it subject to significant rationing in droughts and more extreme weather conditions brought on by climate change. . 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. . Hetch Hetchy is only one of nine reservoirs in the San Francisco Public Utility Commissions water system. by the Raker Act. That puts it at 84 percent of where it would usually be usually at this time of year. That cant be right. Great stuff. This is a marimekko (or mekko) graph which may take some time to understand if you arent used to seeing them. Major snowstorm might leave you stranded, New 101 express lanes opens in Bay Area. Usually with warm ARs, you get a dramatic increase in inflow, which can fill even very large reservoirs relatively quickly, like Oroville in 2017. These sources are diverse in both the origin of the supply snowmelt, rainfall and recharge of groundwater and their location within our system. Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park is seen in 2022. Hi Keith, you could de-select the large reservoirs from the menu at the top right. 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. 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. "Some weather monitoring stations in the Feather River drainage received as much as 12 to 19 inches during the period of the storms," the department said. 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. David Rizzardo, hydrology section manager for the California Department of Water Resources, said there are a lot of factors that affect reservoir storage. The recent spate of storms lifted the statewide snowpack to 190% of average for the start of the month, and more snow is on the way. But they'll cost you, Fight at high school basketball game in S.F. May 24, 2022 - BAWSCA Statement About the Adoption of a Systemwide Water Use Reduction of 11%. mandate within Is that a good thing? Lake Shasta, the state's largest reservoir, rose 2.9 feet and added 31,020 acre-feet of water. It was my first time using D3 and it took me a long time to get up to speed. The SFPUC hoards water in dry years when they dont need to, said Peter Drekmeier, policy director at the conservation group Tuolumne River Trust. This local water is captured in reservoirs located in San Mateo and Alameda counties. Whats going on with the water level at Oroville? He frequently writes about water, wildfire, climate and the American West. Could you also do the same for the Colorado River reservoirs to see how they are fairing? Owned by the city of San Francisco, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir It wont be full until Spring snowmelt. Kudos to the designers. It is also the amount of water in a cube that is 352 feet per side (about the length of a football field). Ive been meaning to search for aquifer levels. Stay up-to-date with breaking news and upcoming events. Hetchy refers to a valley in the Sierra Nevada and a reservoir that Getting There. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. For the class we based all our designs on the USACE spillway design manual. Similar findings are described in theUC Davis studyRe-Assembling Hetch HetchyandUS Bureau of Reclamation study. River. Much of the water passing through Holm would be diverted into the Mountain Tunnel and be used to generate power a second time at the Moccasin powerhouse. 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. 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. I like the comparisons of last year, and the historical average. provides water to 2.7 million residents and businesses in the San An official website of the United States government. What happened to the Hetch Hetchy level? a broad meaning that had been previously applied in an Lock Folsom Lake is letting the water flow out. draining the reservoir to court, arguing in 2015 that the Hetch Hetchy is Monitoring location 11275500. March 12 - The Perks of California Native Wildflowers, March 28 - Rainwater Harvesting and Rain Gardens, April 01 - Lawn Conversion to Native and Drought-Tolerant Plants. 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. This dashboard provides a bit more detail on the state of each of the reservoirs while also showing an aggregate total. I hear from the farmers that we waste 80% of the water by flushing it into the ocean. I also hear the environmentalists say, the streams and wildlife need water, so flush it into the ocean. Its an interesting dilemma. This website along with another shows that Eastmans level is still rising even though we have not had rain in more than a week. In fact, thanks to a little snowmelt, water levels were up for all reservoirs from December to January. Great Job on this site! It carried workers and materials for the dam, as well as tourists, postage and other amenities.