benefits of hetch hetchy dam

California needed secure, reliable access to drinking water for their burgeoning populations. The imputed motive was to divide the environmental movement: to see residents of the strongly Democratic city of San Francisco coming out against an environmental issue. Her poetic descriptions of Hetch hetchy won her the attention of powerful members of Congress. There are thousands of dams in the United States. Miners did not stay in the area for long, however, as richer deposits occurred further south along the Merced River and in the Big Oak Flat area. This was likely because of Hetch Hetchy's narrow outlet, which in years of heavy snowmelt created a bottleneck in the Tuolumne River and the subsequent flooding of the valley floor. Standing upon it will give you the chance to appreciate the sublimity of both nature and human achievement. The dam and reservoir are the source for the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct, which provides water for over . Lawsuit to drain Hetch Hetchy Reservoir goes back to court The dam is a small portion of the overall Tuolumne River/San Francisco storage system that benefits the Bay Area. Hetch Hetchy is the incredible story of Americas most controversial dam and the birth of the environmental movement. This reservoir on the Sacramento River has been planned for decades Principally, dam removal on the Klamath will require annual replacement of 696 gigawatt hours of electricity by other means. Should natural resources be used to serve the greatest good for the greatest number? Hours: Year-round, but only accessible by car when the Hetch Hetchy Road is open. Swimming and boating are prohibited in Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in order to maintain a clean source of drinking water. The O'Shaughnessy Dam is 430-foot (131 m) high made of concrete and it is named after engineer Michael O'Shaughnessy, who oversaw the entire construction. Surrounding the water are a few waterfalls, the most prominent being Tueeulala and Wapama Falls, and countless rock features. This valley was isolated and remote, twenty miles northwest of the original. Camping included, if needed; limited sites are shared among all the . Some hydro-power dams withhold and then release water to generate power for peak demand periods, which is particularly disruptive to migrating fish. The pressure that Muir and his compatriots generated in 1908 and 1909 did not dissuade the administration from its support of the Hetch Hetchy dam, but this pressure was quite effective in the realm of electoral politics. They suggest that draining the reservoir and turning Hetch Hetchy Valley into a tourist center similar to Yosemite Valley could be worth up to $178 million per year. Secretary of the Interior, Ethan Allen Hitchcock, refused to give San Francisco a permit to build the dam. Subsequent proposals for development in our national parks have been defeated by citizen activists inspired by calls to remember Hetch Hetchy. Hetch Hetchy, a glacially carved valley situated in the northern end of the park, was flooded and dammed in the early 1900s in order to serve as the primary drinking water source for parts of San Francisco and the Bay Area. [58], Water from Hetch Hetchy is some of the cleanest municipal water in the United States; San Francisco is one of six U.S. cities not required by law to filter its tap water, although the water is disinfected by ozonation and, since 2011, exposure to UV. Hetch Hetchy, unlike other water storage facilities in California, is relatively buffered from near-term climate change because of its high elevation. The first is utilitarian conservation. . Included with your registration: Two-day guided experience in Yosemite; one day at Hetch Hetchy and one day in Ackerson Meadow (Saturday, May 11, at 8 am, through Sunday, May 12, until about 3 pm). A bigger population will increase demand, meanwhile climate change could significantly reduce supply through drought and hydrological cycle changes. For example, plan to stop at the Lucky Buck Cafe on your way to or from a day of exploring Yosemite. Note: you may use the handout or navigate to our feature on the Hetch Hetchy Environmental Debates to access the overview and copy of the Raker Bill. The valley provided an escape from the summer heat of the lowlands. If the dam were not to be built, it would only benefit the small percentage of Americans who actually visited the site and were concerned about the park's pristine condition. 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. [45], The controversy over Hetch Hetchy was in the context of other political scandals and controversies, especially prevalent in the Taft administration. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. He produced at least four oil paintings of the valley one of which is prominently displayed in Mount Holyoke Colleges art museum. Only a tiny proportion of Yosemites visitors explore this out-of-the-way corner of the national park. [85] [8], While its cousin Yosemite Valley to the south had permanent Miwok settlements,[25] Hetch Hetchy was only seasonally inhabited. The Hetch Hetchy dam is upstream on the Tuolumne River from a reservoir nearly six times as large. As well dam for water-tanks the peoples cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man.. ", "Fall in the Main Tuolumne River at the Head of Hetch Hetchy Valley", "Fly Fishing Poopenaut Valley Tuolumne River", "Screech Brothers Find Hetch Hetchy Valley", "Big Oak Flat (No. Including additions made between 1934 and 1938, the dam currently stands 430 feet (131 m) above the bedrock below. Hodel Would Tear Down Dam in Hetch Hetchy - Los Angeles Times Muir observed:[3]. ", "The Hetch Hetchy Story, Part II: PG&E and the Raker Act", "The Forbidden Water: San Francisco and Hetch Hetchy Valley", "Idyllic Pulgas Water Temple still offers comfort for weary wanderers", "Chronology of San Francisco's Water Development", "Frequently Asked Questions About Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and the Regional Water & Power System", "Water From Yosemite Is Still Cheap, for Now", "Serving 2.6 million residential, commercial and industrial customers", "Hetch Hetchy water goes through ultraviolet rinse", "A historic bid for limited boating at Hetch Hetchy Reservoir", "Trump team reassigns Yosemite National Park superintendent; timing raises questions", "Western Water Wars: Efforts to Take Over San Francisco's Hetch Hetchy Systems", "Hetch Hetchy Power Debacle: Continuing Yosemite Threat", "Could Hetch Hetchy Valley be worth $100 billion? It's a big job to open the tunnel and close it again. The Tuolumne River, the source of. Hetch Hetchy doesn't require permit, you need just regular National park pass. In 1967 the Robert C. Kirkwood Powerhouse started commercial operation followed by a New Moccasin Powerhouse in 1969 when the Old Moccasin Powerhouse was taken out of service. A Dam Removal in Progress. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This is interesting from an ideological perspective. The new. More Than Just Parks | National Parks Guides. On a national stage, Hetch Hetchy became caught in the cross fire between the interests of private utilities ownership and those of municipal ownership. Those who did visit it were enchanted by its scenery, but encountered difficulties with the primitive conditions and, in summertime, swarms of mosquitoes. Hetch-22 | Ethics: Climate Change - Galen Hiltbrand Friday, enjoy an evening about bats starting at 7 pm. Hetch Hetchy, for the time being, was safe, and it would not be inundated during Roosevelts watch.. OPTION 3Give control to the local people of Hetch Hetchy The SFPUC and other Hetch Hetchy users are currently implementing plans to meet this demand through recycled water, groundwater and conservation. As well dam for . If youre excited about a long hike or backpacking trip, you can continue to Laurel Lake for a 14.2-mile (22.9 km) out and back. As John Clayton writes, At the height of Progressivism, Phelan and other good-government types believed that the city should administer its own utilities. Hetch Hetchy and Yosemite Valley are so similar because they were created by the same sequences of geological activity. [12] During the last glacial period, the Tioga Glacier[13] formed from extensive icefields in the upper Tuolumne River watershed; between 110,000 and 10,000 years ago Hetch Hetchy Valley was sculpted into its present shape by repeated advance and retreat of the ice, which also removed extensive talus deposits that may have accumulated in the valley since the Sherwin period. Right next to the Lucky Buck Cafe, youll find the Yosemite Westgate Lodge and Buck Meadows Lodge. Located at 3,900 feet, Hetch Hetchy boasts one of the longest hiking seasons in the park and is an ideal place for thundering spring waterfalls and wildflower displays. If you want to follow the old railroad line today, the Hetch Hetchy Road and most of the Mather Road were built on the old railroad bed and are beautiful scenic drives as well. Hetch Hetchy Valley is a treasure worth visiting. The O'Shaughnessy Dam is near Yosemite's western boundary, but the long, narrow, fingerlike reservoir stretches eastward for about 8 miles (13 km). Hetch Hetchy Water and Power also wants to remove the giant bulkhead that seals up the tunnel with 40 nuts and bolts, Ritchie said. [2] Forests might provide for the material well-being of human beings, but they did not exist for this reason alone. DWRs meta-study found a range of costs from $3 billion to $10 billion for restoration and replacement of water and power sources. [42] They claimed the valley was not unique and would be even more beautiful with a lake. The entire valley is now flooded under an average 300ft (91m) of water behind the dam, although it occasionally reemerges in droughts, as it did in 1955, 1977, and 1991. Consider one project in progress that involves re-routing an entire river . She says the water first leaves Hetch Hetchy through the O'Shaughnessy Dam. San Francisco had its eyes on this water source early on and repeatedly tried to acquire water rights to the Tuolumne River. Watershed Worker (Summer, 2023) - Hetch Hetchy Water & Power (Moccasin For all the similarities between Hetch Hetchy Valley and Yosemite Valley, there is one enormous difference the Hetch Hetchy reservoir. [59] The water quality is high because of the unique geology of the upper Tuolumne River drainage basin, which consists mostly of bare granite; as a result, the rivers feeding Hetch Hetchy Reservoir have extremely low loads of sediments and nutrients. In 2006, the California State Department of Water Resources (DWR) and Department of Parks and Recreation evaluated the cost estimates of multiple feasibility studies conducted between 1988 and 2005. There have been lawsuits over whether San Francisco violated the agreements of the Raker Act. Controversy continues to swirl around the Hetch Hetchy Dam even now. There is a third concept, too, though it was little understood at the time. In continuance, water has a personality and the presence of it can change moods and help people feel better. Browers Hetch Hetchy: Undoing A Great American Mistake, makes a compelling case for restoring the valley to its previous glory. History - Hetch Hetchy - Sierra Club Now San Francisco wanted to dam one of the two principal watersheds in the park, the Hetch Hetchy valley through which ran the Tuolumne River, to create a reservoir for its water supply. Another popular trail crosses the OShaughnessy Dam and then takes a left turn to climb steeply out of the Hetch Hetchy valley. Denouncing dam proponents as greedy, he wrote, These temple destroyers, devotees of ravaging commercialism, seem to have a perfect contempt for Nature, and instead of lifting their eyes to the God of the Mountains, life them to the Almighty Dollar. Dbq Hetchy Project - 663 Words | Internet Public Library O'Shaughnessy Dam (California) - Wikipedia [2] The dam contains 675,000cuyd (516,000m3) of concrete. Start by hiking across the OShaughnessy Dam then turn east along the shore of the reservoir. Not only does it supply 85 percent of the water for 2.6 million people in San Francisco, controlled releases via the O'Shaughnessy Dam are helping preserve downstream specieseven in dry years. Gravel, logs, and other important food and habitat features can become trapped. Bierstadt described the valley as "smaller than the more famous valley but it presents many of the same features in his scenery and is quite as beautiful. This is because the Tuolumne catchment basin above Hetch Hetchy is almost three times as large as the catchment area of the Merced River above Yosemite, allowing a greater volume of ice to form. Copyright © 2023 More Than Just Parks | This post may contain affiliate links - read our Standards, Corrections, & Privacy Policy. The regional water system provides water to 2.4 million people in San Francisco, Santa Clara, Alameda and San Mateo counties. remains the least visited area of the park. A full breakfast is served in the dining room. OShaughnessy Dam and the waterworks that connect it to the Bay Area are a marvel of engineering. [13], Hetch Hetchy is home to a diverse array of plants and animals. It has not been demonstrated that Hetch Hetchy is the only available source, but only that it might be the cheapest. That reservoir is New Don Pedro, and it rests over existing pipelines to the Bay Area. [31] Its meadows provided abundant feed for "thousands of head of sheep and cattle that entered lean and lank in the spring, but left rolling fat and hardly able to negotiate the precipitous and difficult defiles out of the mountains in the fall. Residents drink it in 26 cities and water districts from San. This time, in favor of those who wanted to build the dam. Over the next decade, he produced fifteen large oils that transformed the valley into a dreamland unlike anything that ever met mortal eye.. He discovered it a few of years later. Congress, confronted with rising public opposition, refused to act on the measure. Albright, along with Stephen Mather, became instrumental players in the creation of a national park system three years after Congress decided the issue of Hetch Hetchy. The Hetch Hetchy Valley is about 8 miles (13 km) from Yosemite Valley. Photo: Chris Migeon. Hetch Hetchy is dammed by the 430-foot-tall OShaughnessy Dam and has a storage capacity of 360,360 acre-feet. Once again, the political pendulum had swung. You could miss this small mountain community if you blink at the wrong time, but it is home to a few remarkable small businesses. [39], Interest in using the valley as a water source or reservoir dates back as far as the 1850s, when the Tuolumne Valley Water Company proposed developing water storage there for irrigation. The reservoir supplies water for the city of San Francisco, so there is no recreational boating or swimming allowed. Hoffman observed a meadow "well timbered and affording good grazing", and noted the valley had a milder climate than Yosemite Valley, hence the abundance of ponderosa pine and gray pine. In the foreground, the deep still water of Hetch Hetchy Reservoir reflects sunshine, clouds and the proud shadows of the surrounding mountains. [37][38] However, ranchers who had previously owned land in the new park continued their use of Hetch Hetchy Valley a "sheep-grazing free-for-all [that] threatened to denude the High Sierra meadows"[37] before disputes over state and private properties in respect to national park boundaries were finally settled in the early 1900s. For instance, the WET company helps people see the beauty of water through magnificent water fountains. Hetch Hetchy - Yosemite National Park (U.S. National Park Service) Day 6: Hetch Hetchy Reservoir to San Francisco. [56] All four pipelines cross the Hayward fault. . By Posted student houses falmouth 2021 In jw marriott panama concierge lounge Impounded by O'Shaughnessy Dam, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir water passes through hydroelectric powerhouses before it enters the San Joaquin Pipelines, the Tesla Ultraviolet Treatment Facility, and the Coast Range Tunnel on its journey to the Bay Area. Hetch Hetchy is on the main stem of the Tuolumne River and is part of the Tuolumne watershed. Wapama and Rancheria Falls Looking up at Wapama Falls from the footbridge on the hiking trail. Winter weather conditions may cause road closures. Its a a wonderful place to see spring waterfalls and wildflower displays. Exactly how San Francisco won the right to transform the bucolic valley into a 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. [6][7], Upstream from the valley lies the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, while the smaller Poopenaut Valley is directly downstream from O'Shaughnessy Dam. 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. View of the OShaughnessy Dam and the Hetchy Hetchy Road and parking. From 1901 - 1913, John Muir led the Sierra Club in a campaign to protect the Hetch Hetchy Valley, a part of Yosemite National Park, from being filled by a reservoir. Photo: Kim Lawson. Hetch Hetchy water serves residents in four Bay Area counties, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Southern Alameda. It would be almost impossible to build a new dam there today. August 14 Hetch Hetchy Began Producing Power (1925) - Today in [69], In 1987, the idea of razing the O'Shaughnessy Dam gained an adherent in Don Hodel, Secretary of the Department of the Interior under President Ronald Reagan. Instead, the magnificence of a valley often described as Yosemite Valleys slightly smaller twin takes center stage. Building a dam there was off the table. But what about when the lake dries? San Francisco Mayor James Phelan led the fight to build a dam at Hetch Hetchy. The Fight for Hetch Hetchy | Environment & Society Portal If youre especially in the mood to relax and let yourself be taken care of, The Blackberry Inn is a luxury bed and breakfast situated on 36 acres and surrounded by National Forest land. [84] Karin Klein has described Yosemite Valley as "so crammed that it looks more like a ripstop ghetto than the site of a nature experience. [40] By the 1880s, San Francisco was looking to Hetch Hetchy water as a fix for its outdated and unreliable water system. Fortunately, that time has not yet come, so this November, vote no on the Water Sustainability and Environmental Restoration Planning Act of 2012. Lets keep Hetch Hetchy around for the forseeable future. In an effort to build this support, he published his bookThe Yosemitein 1912. a strong proponent of restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley and Senator Feinstein is still[when?] Glaciers followed these low-points, leaving their own marks in particular carving out the characteristic U-shaped valley with steep sides and wide floor. To get to Hetch Hetchy, turn north off Highway 120 onto Evergreen Road about 1 mile (2.2 km) outside the Big Oak Flat Entrance gate, and 12.5 miles (20 km) east of the small community of Buck Meadows. Fourth, dams alter water quality. 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. Hetch Hetchy: Congress and the Environment | National Archives Since then, the "Hetch Hetchy System" has continued to grow, now including nine impoundments . Back in the early nineteen hundreds, when the debate start about The Hetch Hetchy dam being built a large majority of people did not realize or care how valuable nature is. Divide the class into four small groups. Owned by the city of San Francisco, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir provides water to 2.7 million residents and businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area. For functional purposes, Hetch Hetchy was a promising solution to San Francisco's serious water shortages. Hetch Hetchy ushered in a new era for the national parks. Your email address will not be published. First, they block rivers which prevents fish from migrating. From our petition "The cost of replacing water storage in Hetch Hetchy Valley to maintain the current levels of water service and electrical power production by CCSF would be approximately 2 billion dollars, including 199 million dollars for additional interties, 372 million dollars for water supply, 387 million dollars for water treatment, 669 While John Muir led the fight against building the dam, the opposition was supported by Gifford Pinchot. It involved the unintended consequences of efforts to shape the environment to meet human needs. benefits of hetch hetchy dam - Lindon CPA's The first Moccasin Powerhouse in Moccasin, California began commercial operation in 1925 followed by the Holm Powerhouse in 1960 (the same month the Early Intake Powerhouse was taken out of service). [51][52] The aqueduct delivers an average of 265,000acreft (327,000,000m3) of water each year, or 31,900,000cuft (900,000m3) per day, to residents of San Francisco and San Mateo, Santa Clara and Alameda Counties. [54] An additional hydroelectric system comprising Cherry Lake, Lake Eleanor and the Holm Powerhouse is also part of the Hetch Hetchy Project, adding another 169 megawatts of generating capacity. The proposed ballot measure calls for the creation of a task force that would spend $8 million to develop a long-term plan for improving water quality and reliability, remediating environmental damages caused by the water supply system, and identifying new water and renewable energy supplies so that Hetch Hetchy Valley could be returned to the National Park Service. The reservoir is eight miles long and the largest single body of water in Yosemite. It is part of our More than Just Parks Environmental Heroes series. The landscape painter Bierstadt, who brought his German Romantic training to the valley in 1862, gave the world an even larger portrait, and one in extravagant color, that photographers could not match on any scale. The locations of these two formations roughly correspond with those of Cathedral Rocks and El Capitan seen from Tunnel View in Yosemite Valley. According to a local legend, Nate spotted a valley to the east that was too far to visit. [71], The dam would not have to be completely removed; rather, it would only be necessary to cut a hole through the base in order to drain the water and restore natural flows of the Tuolumne River.

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