The Hetch Hetchy system's supporters say it has one of the smallest carbon footprints of any water system in the United States because its water is of such high quality that it requires no. Slow down and spend the day at Tenaya Lake a beautiful and easy-to-get-to alpine lake cupped by granite domes. . This strenuous 2.5-mile, round-trip hike to the Tuolumne River has 1,229 feet of elevation gain. The dam in the Hetch Hetchy valley of Yosemite National Park, first proposed in 1908, was intended to create a reservoir that would provide water and electricity for the burgeoning city of San Francisco. The Hetch Hetchy Valley: A Reservoir In The Sierra Nevada Mountains Of To visit the waterfalls or Yosemites northern backcountry, you walk across OShaughnessy Dam. At the time, neither side understood the long-range consequences of human actions to manage the environment. Then, in 1906, a devastating earthquake caused a series of fires in San Francisco that destroyed 25,000 buildings across 490 city blocks. It pitted Gifford Pinchot, Americas first forester, against John Muir, Americas legendary conservationist. San Francisco assumed from the outset that there would not be significant opposition to using the Hetch Hetchy Valley, even if it was in a national park, for the high and noble purpose of providing water to one of the nations great and growing metropolises, so their efforts in Washington, DC, were conducted discreetly. The O'Shaughnessy Dam is near Yosemite's western boundary, but the long, narrow, fingerlike reservoir stretches eastward for about 8 miles (13km). You can expect one (short) email per month. Water System | SFPUC The privately owned Spring Valley Water Company had required its customers to pay exorbitant rates for years. The Hetch Hetchy Reservoir also serves to provide energy in the form of hydroelectricity, with a capacity of over 200 megawatts a year. San Francisco Mayor James Phelan led the fight to build a dam at Hetch Hetchy. The network goes from the Sierra Nevada mountains, across the Central Valley and out to the coast, and serves 2.5 million Californians in 30 cities across four counties. And it is the largest single source of water supply for the Bay Area. Only a tiny proportion of Yosemites visitors explore this out-of-the-way corner of the national park. In 1987, President Reagans Secretary of the Interior, Donald Hodel, proposed that Hetch Hetchy be restored. He said, So we come now face to face with the perfectly clean question of what is the best use to which this water that flows out of the Sierras can be put. Call 209-372-0200 for the latest road and weather conditions, Hetch Hetchy Road Daily Hours: 8 am to 5 pm. [21] Miwok names are still used for features, including Tueeulala Fall, Wapama Fall, and Kolana Rock. It is the primary water source for about 2.5 million residents of the San Francisco Bay Area. Show More. Sign up for the email list and join an active community of monthly readers. Like Muir, he was totally transfixed by the Hetch Hetchy Valley. At SPUR, we have done a lot of work on climate change adaptation. Photo: Kim Lawson. Consequences - Hetch Hetchy: The Valley of Broken Promises You may take easy hike to Wapama falls ( around 6 miles) or even more challenging hike to Rancheria falls ( around 14 miles). Also convince them it would be a good idea to raise the heights of their dams so we can enlarge these reservoirs with our extra water, flooding anew many miles of the Tuolumne River and acres of currently dry land. . And in a larger sense, the waters of California served as the converting agents. Within three years, Congress had passed the Organic Act, formally defining the parks and creating a new federal agency, the National Park Service, with a mission: to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.. HETCH HETCHY: The Epic Enviro Battle That Changed America 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. A recent report evaluates the economic benefits of restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley. [20] They hunted, and gathered seeds and edible plants to furnish themselves winter food, trade items, and materials for art and ceremonial objects. [5] The valley was slowly becoming known for its natural beauty, but it was never a popular tourist destination because of extremely poor access and the location of the famous Yosemite Valley just twenty miles to the south. "[32], In 1867, Charles F. Hoffman of the California Geological Survey conducted the first survey of the valley. The water winds between granite features like Kolana Rock and Hetch Hetchy Dome. Pinchot was Americas Forester. He served as the first head of the United States Forest Service. ", "Hetch Hetchy reclaimed: The dam downstream", "Alternatives for restoration of Hetch Hetchy Valley following removal of the dam and reservoir page 15", "Chapter 9: Impact of restoration on hydropower production and revenues", "Putting Bay Area's Water Sources to a Vote", "Hodel Would Tear Down Dam in Hetch Hetchy", "On Hetch Hetchy, John Muir was wrong: California's revered naturalist wrote a poetic diatribe against the drowning of the great valley. Everyone who drinks water or takes a shower in San Francisco should go. . The dam and reservoir are the source for the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct, which provides water for over . Although Hetch Hetchy is included within the boundaries of Yosemite National Park, the entrance is separate from the rest of the park. As we learned from Rachel Carsons Silent Spring, humankind can damage the environment while attempting to control it. San Francisco Hetch Hetchy Reservoir Initiative, Proposition F DWRs meta-study found a range of costs from $3 billion to $10 billion for restoration and replacement of water and power sources. Such new supplies are not guaranteed to have the low greenhouse gas emissions profile that Hetch Hetchy water and power do and they could worsen climate change while increasing our vulnerability to it. The Fight for Hetch Hetchy | Environment & Society Portal [73] Furthermore, the removal of O'Shaughnessy Dam would not require costly sediment control measures, as would be typical on most dam removal projects, because of the high quality of the Tuolumne River water in the first 90 years since its construction, only around 2in (5.1cm) of sediment had been deposited in Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, much less than most other dams. [28][29] About 1853, his brother, Joseph Screech (credited in some accounts for the original discovery of the valley)[27] blazed the first trail from Big Oak Flat, a mining camp near present-day Lake Don Pedro,[30] for 38mi (61km) northeast to Hetch Hetchy Valley. Hours: Year-round, but only accessible by car when the Hetch Hetchy Road is open. These clean and comfortable rooms also enjoy access to the pool, spa and other facilities at Yosemite Westgate Lodge. Lawsuit to drain Hetch Hetchy Reservoir goes back to court Two additional reservoirs in the Hetch Hetchy RegionLake Eleanor and Lake Lloyd (also Another Iconic Valley In Yosemite? Report Estimates Tourism Benefits Of Richard Ballinger was a conservative who was one of the main characters who was responsible for the progressive-conservative split in the GOP in 1912 (leading to the creation of the Bull Moose party), which is the factor that determined the GOP would be on the right side of the political spectrum (and therefore ensuring the Democrats would be on the left side of the spectrum). Once again, the political pendulum would swing. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This is interesting from an ideological perspective. It is only a cut in the hills through which the Tuolumne River runs, but if you think there might be a valley keep looking and if you find such a place I will give it to you., Nate went on looking for the valley. And, as you might imagine, it produces some of the cleanest municipal water in the United States. Required fields are marked *. The battle over the Hetch Hetchy, in part, was a fight over public versus private ownership of vital resources such as water. Albert Bierstadt was known for his sweeping landscapes of the American West. Hetch Hetchy is unique because of its small holding capacity in comparison to the vast watershed feeding it. Your email address will not be published. Pipelines 1 and 2 cross the San Francisco Bay to the south of the Dumbarton Bridge, while pipelines 3 and 4 run to the south of the bay. [40] The city would repeatedly try to acquire water rights to Hetch Hetchy, including in 1901, 1903 and 1905, but was continually rebuffed because of conflicts with irrigation districts that had senior water rights on the Tuolumne River, and because of the valley's national park status. The larger issues at stake would frame environmental debates for years to come. [77][78], The economic wisdom of removing the dam has been frequently questioned. Specialty pricing may require . The first is utilitarian conservation. Photo: Kim Lawson. Hetch Hetchy - Yosemite National Park (U.S. National Park Service) Just before reaching the Bay Area, it passes through the Irvington tunnel near the city of Fremont, and the aqueduct splits into four pipelines at 373253N 1215555W / 37.548104N 121.932041W / 37.548104; -121.932041. Residents drink it in 26 cities and water districts from San. Second, the sanctity of the national parks which they believed should not be violated. Hodel Would Tear Down Dam in Hetch Hetchy - Los Angeles Times Today the 117-billion-gallon reservoir supplies drinking water to about 2.5 million San Francisco Bay Area residents and hydro-electric power generated by two plants downstream. It also was an early battle of conservatives vs progressives. It has not been demonstrated that Hetch Hetchy is the only available source, but only that it might be the cheapest. Hiking Hetch Hetchy: the unknown Yosemite National Park - 2TravelDads Spring and early summer bring wildflowers including lupine, wallflower, monkey flower, and buttercup. The surface of the water hides an additional 300 feet of granite cliffs and once-upon-a-time waterfalls within its depths. Following a fierce nationwide debate led by John Muir and Will Colby of the Sierra Club, the City of San Francisco was authorized by the U.S. Congress, in the Raker Act of 1913, to construct a dam and reservoir on the Tuolumne River in Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park. Prominent sponsors of the dam proposal, particularly (by then former) Mayor James Phelan and city engineer Marsdon Manson (and later his successor, Michael OShaughnessy), quietly lobbied key figures in the government, trusting that the appeal of municipal water and power would easily win supporters amid the prevailing progressive political climate. Journal entry - Hetch Hetchy.pdf - , Environmental Science The trail to Wapama Falls is one of the most popular trails in the Hetch Hetchy area for a good reason. The dam was then 227 feet (69m) high; its present height of 312 feet (95m) was achieved only later, in 1938. Hetch Hetchy Valley, far from being a plain, common, rock-bound meadow, as many who have not seen it seem to suppose, is a grand landscape garden, one of Nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples. What part should mountains, rivers, natural meadows or wild creatures play in American life? The second concept is preservation. San Francisco Hetch Hetchy Dam Almost Failed and Could - Breitbart If, on the other hand, San Francisco gained control, it would signal in important victory for public power resulting in lower rates for the people. The main power facility in the system, the Moccasin Powerhouse, began commercial operation on August 14, 1925. Spring snowmelt runs down the Tuolumne River and fills Hetch Hetchy, the largest reservoir in our water system. [8] Rancheria Falls is located farther southeast, on Rancheria Creek. While the debate goes on, Hetch Hetchy remains a relaxing and often-overlooked corner of the park - much to the delight of hikers and backpackers who prefer less touristy experiences.

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