Hetch-Hetchy Water Project: Then & Now

Hetch-Hetchy Water Project: At the time and now, Hetch-Hetchy Valley was originally a V-shaped valley and gradually carved by the ancient Tuolumne River. After some glaciers were formed during the last glacier, the valley was engraved in the state about 10,000 years ago due to melting of the glacier. After glaciers melted, they formed an alluvial floodplain that forms the valley floor. Hetch-Hetchy Valley has a more rounded, smooth wall for its rich glaciers compared to other similar valleys found in the area.

Marshall: So the first question is where to get water. My answer to this is exactly the same. Hetch Hetchy is not our source. The Tuolumne River flowing through Hetch Hetchy Valley is our source of water. The San Francisco water rights are related to the Tuolumne River instead of the Hetch Hetchy Valley. So what we have to say is that we should not save water in the national park. Let us reduce the use of it, but let's keep using the water of the Tuolumne River. Please do it better. We will become more modern in managing water resources. However, you can get most of the water from the Tuolumne River. Just keep it elsewhere in the park.

That's why Hetch Hetchy is a huge asset in California's third largest city water district. Indeed, a drop in San Francisco's water comes from the Hetch Hetchy system. Many neighboring cities, such as Palo Alto's faithful supporters of Silicon Valley, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Redwood City, etc, also supplied 88% to 100% water from the Hetch Hetchy system. The Turlock and Modesto regions are also cautious about changing the current situation, but the struggle for studying the Hetch Hetchy Dam was mostly done by San Francisco. The three Californians in Washington, DC were powerful defenders of the Hetch Hetchy system established for decades. These powerful politicians I called "The Three Giants of California" were first elected in 1982, 1987, and 1992. Since then, everyone has been re-elected in the House of Representatives and the Senate and has continued to qualify.

In the case of San Francisco, the Hetch Hetchy water system including the four upstream dams of the Hetch Hetchy Valley O'Shaughnessy Dam was delivered in 1934 and today it supplies water to 2.4 million people (mainly outside San Francisco). This system has been well designed and has been largely ignored for decades until the need for $ 4.6 billion for reconstruction and reconstruction due to the worsening earthquake and the danger. Today, other ways to supply water to these cities can be found mainly by treating the water downstream of the original mountain basin. However, the use of water systems is much longer than the technological, economic and social norms that are popular at construction. Hetch Hetchy, which strengthens and opposes modern environmentalism, was an important environmental protection project in the early 20th century, worth noting for the early Sierra Club and John Muir.