Water system increasingly fragile

A first step in the largest public works project in the western United States in last half century began this month, on water pipes lying between two fault lines in the East Bay.

Most Peninsula cities would not have running water without the Hetch Hetchy water delivery system, running 167 miles from Yosemite to San Francisco, and Peninsula cities are heavily invested in the 10-year, $4.3 billion effort to protect it from earthquakes.

If a major earthquake were to strike and snap the pipes, water could be shut off to cities like Burlingame or San Mateo in as little as 10 hours -- and stay off for up to two months.

"Almost anyone can hold their breath for a day, but to be without water for that time is crippling," said Art Jensen, general manager of the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency.

The biggest challenge would not be finding something to drink, Jensen said. Bottled water and beverages are available everywhere. It would be 2.4 million Bay Area water users unable to flush a toilet or take a shower -- and fighting fires would also be tricky.

Doomsday scenarios aside, the directors of BAWSCA, from 26 cities and water districts that buy water from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, seem to be less afraid of water-restricting earthquakes than they are of San Francisco city officials.

Some believe the SFPUC has the capability to do equal damage by delaying the project for years while asking for more and more money, and skeptics need look no further than the Bay Bridge fiasco for evidence of other well-intentioned work gone awry.

Stan Gage, board president of the Los Trancos Water District, compared the Hetch Hetchy rebuild to Boston's Big Dig. A University of California at Berkeley professor he consulted said it was almost certain the project's cost would rise again, and he also did not believe it would be completed on time.

"This is isn't going to happen in 10 years, and I would defy you to find a project of this size that happens on time," Gage said.

Why it matters

About 85 percent of the Peninsula's water comes from the Hetch Hetchy system, which is owned and operated by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

Cities like Burlingame are almost entirely dependent upon it, and San Francisco engineers concluded in 2000 the system is vulnerable to a big earthquake.

Hetch Hetchy took two decades to build and began delivering water in 1934, in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's second year in office.

San Francisco voters approved the Hetch Hetchy renovation in 2002, and a year later state legislators formed BAWSCA for Peninsula and South Bay leaders to keep an eye on San Francisco.

The board has seen a group of SFPUC managers in charge of the rebuild come and go in the two years since it began, and new General Manager Susan Leal was appointed by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in the fall. She said her predecessors' cost estimates were unrealistically low, and bumped them up 20 percent to $4.3 billion on Feb. 7.

Some BAWSCA directors were shocked, and responded with strongly-worded letters, which is close to the limit of their power. The SFPUC is bound by law to take public testimony from boardmembers but not obligated to take its recommendations.

Gage wrote on Feb. 8, "Quite frankly, the only real work that has been done is to kill a lot of trees reprinting revised forecasts to which only the most feckless idealist would deliver any credence."

SFPUC spokesman Tony Winnicker said the new figure may be larger than it actually anticipates.

"We tried to err on the side of overestimating expenses," he said.

Some BAWSCA members like Gage believe San Mateo County's famous neighbor to the north has never treated Peninsula cities fairly when it comes to water, and has, Gage said, "nothing but its own interests in mind."

Winnicker said both San Francisco and the other counties want the project done on time and on budget, and it makes pains to keep the process transparent by submitting documents for every change in scope or schedule.

Some Peninsula cities have less at stake than others.

San Bruno has five wells that produce half its water independent of the Hetch Hetchy system.

"The fact that we have wells means we can be provided some flexibility," said San Bruno City Manager Connie Jackson.

San Bruno Vice Mayor Irene O'Connell sits on the BAWSCA board, though she did not attend its meeting Thursday night.

Like many other cities, San Bruno provides only drinkable water for each house, meaning the water that goes to the tap is the same that goes to the lawn.

Other cities like Redwood City are working on recycled water projects so drinking water is not used in air conditioners and sprinklers, which environmentalists consider a waste of the well-traveled and "pristine" Hetch Hetchy water.

The SFPUC supports those conservation efforts.

What's underway

This month, ground was broken at Irvington Tunnel, between the Hayward and Calaveras earthquake fault lines.

It had not been maintained for three decades because water running through it could not have been disturbed. It is now considered a high priority in the Water System Improvement Program.

Other projects include adding new pipelines, a water treatment plant in Sunol Valley and a shorter piped water route under the Bay, and some are scheduled to begin in 2006.

The SFPUC submitted information to the state for an environmental review, which is likely to take months to complete, and upgrading pipes more than 71 years old is not always simple.

Environmental laws require biologists to crawl on their knees in some cases 60 miles up a pipe looking for microscopic organisms that may be threatened.

Once found, the SFPUC is required to build it a habitat like its own before it replaces the pipe, Winnicker said.

While that takes place, the commission sent requests for proposals to engineering firms for more cost estimates.

Hayward Mayor Roberta Cooper said she wanted accountability, but is aware of her limitations.

"This is what we want and only San Francisco can deliver it. You can always yell and scream but you need to be more rational in the beginning," she said.

Jensen said Thursday night more weight in the project ought to weigh on San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's shoulders.

It was not a personal issue of trust with the new SFPUC managers, Jensen said. However, he wants institutional accountability in the mayor's office for such a long and important project.

While the mayor and the SFPUC pledged total support, Jensen is not satisfied.

No person or group of people should be able throw a wrench in the project simply by leaving -- the water should flow downhill, Jensen said.

"It's the way the Navy's run, it ought to be the way the water system works," he said.