What’s Going On Next to the Highway 92 Crossing?

Alexis Pope, the sole female diver on the project, 

rigs a water pump for washing out the culvert. 

The divers work on the barge 

as well as underwater.

If you cross the Crystal Springs Reservoir on Highway 92, you’ll pass a construction barge yet no construction is visible. The real action is 60 feet underwater, where divers with the Water System Improvement Program work on a seismic upgrade of the Upper Crystal Springs Dam lower culvert. The culvert has been weakened by past earthquakes where it crosses the San Andreas Fault.

To strengthen and provide flexibility to the 370’ long tunnel, the contractor has placed a 42” wide high density polyethylene pipe (HDPE) inside the 60” wide brick lined tunnel in a process called “sliplining”. Flexible grout and slurry delivered by a materials barge are pumped in-between the old pipe and new slipline to provide additional cushioning against future earthquakes. 

In addition, a vertical portal will be installed outside the area where the culvert crosses the fault as a fail-safe. It will maintain water flow from Upper Crystal Springs to the Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir if a major seismic event damages the lower culvert where it is bisected by the fault. 

Divers wear video cameras, communication lines and lights
on their helmets, and a warm water hose for comfort,
all connected to the barge via lengthy cables. 

Project Schedule

Dredging for vertical portal: December 2013

Expected completion: February 2014

This project, together with all of the other improvements to the regional distribution system, will allow the SFPUC to meet its goal of delivering potable water within 24 hours after a major earthquake.

A crane and temporary buildings are staged 

on the barge to support underwater construction work.

Photos by Robin Scheswohl, SFPUC

For more information on construction diving in the Crystal Springs - San Andreas Reservoir system, please see our article from April 2013.

Warm Winter Wishes

Happy Holidays!

As we look back over 2013 we’d like to say “Thank You” to our neighbors for your cooperation in our work to upgrade the aging Hetch Hetchy Water System. We send you wishes for warmth, happiness and delicious clean water this holiday season and beyond.

Hetch Hetchy Reservoir

All our best,
The Water System Improvement Program, Peninsula region

Behind the Scenes in Front of Lower Crystal Springs Dam

   

Hetch Hetchy Water System improvements are progressing steadily on both sides of the Lower Crystal Springs Dam. In front of the Dam, the new Crystal Springs Pump Station is a hub of construction activity. The pump station moves water from the Crystal Springs Reservoir System to the San Andreas Reservoir with a third more hydraulic capacity than the old pump station, thus allowing SFPUC to advance water to the Harry Tracy Water Treatment Plant faster than before and thereby meeting the SFPUC level of service commitment to provide potable water within 24 hours after a major seismic event.  When the pump station is completed, most key functions can be controlled remotely from Harry Tracy, located eight miles north.

   

While the pump station itself is nearly completed and actively undergoing testing, work continues on water transmission tunnels, pump station infrastructure pipelines, and the emergency release/dissipation structure nearby.

L to R: Lower Crystal Springs Dam, old CS pump station, emergency 
release/dissipation structure under construction, and new pump station.

Work on the emergency release/dissipation structure adjacent to “pool 2” in San Mateo Creek (above) required SFPUC biologists to survey the area and remove endangered steelhead trout before the pool could be temporarily drained. 

Staff Biologist Madeleine Van Der 
Heyden carefully transfers endangered 
steelhead to a bucket for relocation.

Staff Biologist Chris Pattison snorkels to find 
steelhead trout.




Crystal Springs Outlet Tunnel before and during retrofit


Two valves housed deep within the emergency release/dissipation structure minimize turbulent flow into San Mateo Creek during releases from the Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir. 

    

Construction on both sides of the Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir, together with all of the other improvements to the regional distribution system, will allow the SFPUC to deliver potable water within 24 hours following a major earthquake on the San Andreas Fault.

Emergency Preparedness Month

The First 72 Hours
This October, take time to engage in your community, discuss ideas and plans, and prepare for an emergency or natural disaster. The SFPUC’s Emergency Preparedness Month encourages all San Francisco-area residents to become more aware and prepared for the next emergency, which is almost certain to take place in our lifetimes. The first 72 hours after an emergency are often the times when community members come together to help each other out. If we prepare beforehand, we’ll be better off when an emergency occurs.

What can you do?
Meet with your family, neighbors and community organizers to get connected, develop a plan and share resources. Use SF72.org and sfwater.org/BePrepared as starting points. You’ll find tips, guidelines for supplies, a mobile app and   stories from real San Franciscans.

This is our city
SF72.org was developed by San Francisco for San Francisco. Let’s protect each other and our city by using our resources and knowledge to the fullest when an emergency strikes.

Our community members are not the only ones getting prepared. The SFPUC has been improving and renovating our regional water system to ensure a safe and reliable water supply. Although San Francisco will always need to rely on this imported water from the Sierras, we are also developing additional water supplies that can be used in the event that our regional system is disrupted. For example, we are developing local wells in San Francisco to blend high-quality groundwater with our imported water supplies, and we’re producing recycled water for non-drinking purposes to reduce the amount of drinking water currently used in these ways.

Check www.sf72.org or www.sfwater.org/BePrepared for more information. 

  

Temporary Trail Closure 10/21/13

On Monday, Oct. 21^st, Sawyer Camp Trail will be closed all day for Water System-related maintenance.

We are aiming to wrap up work in this area before the rainy season. San Andreas Trail will be open.

Questions? 

Please call us at (866) 973-1476, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Trail Closures October 14th & 17th

On Monday and Thursday, Oct. 14^th and 17^th, Sawyer Camp Trail will be closed for Water System-related maintenance. 

The trail will be closed all day for all 6 miles. San Andreas Trail will be open. 

Questions? 

Please call us at (866) 973-1476, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Follow us on Twitter: @SawyerCampTrail

Temporary Trail Closure Wednesday

Sawyer Camp Trail will be closed Wednesday, Oct. 9th for Water System-related maintenance. The work will close all 6 miles of the trail.

San Andreas Trail will remain open. No further closures are scheduled at this time.

Questions? Please call us at (866) 973-1476, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

A bridge to nowhere? Mystery explained.

Concrete bridge after completion in January 2013

Photos by Katherine DuTiel, SFPUC

Some have asked why a new bridge was built in the fenced-off area by the Crystal Springs trailhead near Edgewood Road. Rather than being a “bridge to nowhere”, the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System installed the bridge for conservation purposes as part of a habitat improvement project.

The concrete bridge is used by watershed keepers and other environmental and maintenance staff to cross the newly restored creek when needed, allowing the creek to flow freely.

Habitat restoration area across the bridge, April 2013

In addition to building the bridge and restoring the creek, this project included enlarging a pond and clearing over four acres of non-native trees and other invasive plants from the site. 

Crews have been restoring native plants to the area by hydroseeding and individual plantings. Monitoring and maintenance will continue for at least the next three years, with the help of the new bridge.

Sawyer Camp Trail Closure Tuesday, September 24th

Temporary Trail Closure

Sawyer Camp Trail will be CLOSED on Tuesday, September 24th for water system-related maintenance. Additional brief closures may be necessary between now and October 15th, so please stay tuned for notifications. We apologize for any inconvenience. San Andreas Trail will be OPEN.

Ongoing Maintenance

Trail users: Keep an eye out for trucks along the trail. The contractor is performing maintenance on the access roads to the Crystal Springs/San Andreas pipeline and watering new native plants. They will drive water tanks to the work areas with pickup trucks, occasionally using Sawyer Camp Trail to access sites.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at Peninsula@sfwater.org or (866) 973-1476.

Sawyer Camp Trail Construction Notice

Temporary Trail Closures

Sawyer Camp Trail will be closed on Thursday, September 19th for water system-related maintenance. Additional brief closures will be necessary between now and October 15th, so please stay tuned for notifications.

Ongoing Maintenance

The contractor is performing maintenance on the access roads to the Crystal Springs/San Andreas pipeline and watering new native plants. They will drive water tanks to the work areas with pickup trucks; occasionally using Sawyer Camp Trail to access sites. Trail users: Keep an eye out for trucks along the trail.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at Peninsula@sfwater.org or (866) 973-1476.

Photos by Katherine DuTiel, SFPUC

Temporary Trail Closures

Sawyer Camp Trail will be closed Monday and Wednesday, Sept. 9th and 11th, for Water System-related maintenance but open all day Tuesday, Sept 10. The work on Monday and Wednesday will close all 6 miles of the trail.

San Andreas Trail will remain open. No further closures are scheduled at this time.

Questions? Please call us at (866) 973-1476, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The Crystal Springs/San Andreas distribution system has a new heart!

The SFPUC will soon be operating the new Crystal Springs Pump Station on the Peninsula, which replaces the old pump station built downstream of the Lower Crystal Springs Dam in the 1930s. The function of the pump station is to move water supply from the Crystal Springs Reservoir to the San Andreas Reservoir, and then to the Harry Tracy Water Treatment Plant, and then on to customers. A project of the Water System Improvement Program, the new pump station is seismically hardened and has additional capacity.


The new pump station under construction

below I-280’s Eugene A. Doran Bridge

Serving as the heart of the Crystal Springs/San Andreas water distribution system, the new facility’s hydraulic capacity has been increased from 80 million gallons per day (mgd) to 120 mgd. “This is a major improvement – it has a third more capacity than the old pump station, which allows SFPUC to replenish San Andreas reservoir in less time than before” noted Tasso Mavroudis, Senior Project Manager on the Peninsula.

The new pump station’s underground pipes (infrastructure) were literally built on top of the existing plumbing in order to keep the old facility in operation until the new facility was ready. This new infrastructure connects to recently retrofitted and seismically reinforced outlet structures in the Crystal Springs Reservoir to draw water into the pump station. Four powerful new 2500 horsepower pumps include equipment to regulate the distribution, providing more variable flow options than before.

Construction Inspector Wyman Lee walks

alongside a dissipation pool (right) toward

the new pump station.

Pump operations can now be controlled remotely which means most key functions are now automated. Eight miles north at the Harry Tracy Water Treatment Plant, the same operations team which draws water from the San Andreas Reservoir can control flow from the pump station.

This new pump station, together with all of the other improvements to the regional distribution system, will allow the SFPUC to meet its goal of delivering potable water within 24 hours after a major earthquake.

UPDATE: Trail Closure Postponed

The Sawyer Camp Trail closure previously scheduled for 8/21 has been postponed. We will notify the public when a new date is set for the water system-related maintenance work.

We thank you for your patience and apologize for any inconvenience.

Questions?

Please call us at (866) 973-1476
24 hours a day, 7 days a week

San Andreas Trail Closure Wednesday, August 14th

San Andreas Trail will be closed Wednesday, August 14^th for hazard tree removal by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) in cooperation with San Mateo County Parks. 

The trail will be closed all day between Larkspur Drive and San Bruno Avenue. The trail may reopen early – updates online or by phone. We apologize for any inconvenience. 

Sawyer Camp Trail will remain open. No further trail closures are scheduled at this time. 

Questions? Please feel free to call us anytime, day or night, at (866) 973-1476. 

Sawyer Camp Trail Closed Sunday morning, Aug. 4, for Tour de Peninsula

To accommodate one of the Bay Area's longest running and popular bicycle rides, the Tour de Peninsula, Sunday, August 4th, the following roadways will be temporarily closed:  

• Sawyer Camp Trail will be closed until noon to all but ride participants
• Cañada Road between Highway 92 and Filoli will close at 6 am instead of the usual 9am for Bike Sunday
• Crystal Springs Road in Hillsborough will be closed between 7 am and 10 am

The Tour de Peninsula is a fundraising ride for the San Mateo County Parks Foundation that offers cyclists three fully-supported route options designed to suit everyone from first time riders to serious cyclists.

Congestion can be expected along the entire route, including:

Third Ave. in San Mateo, Crystal Springs Road, Cañada Road, King Mt Road, Skyline, Old La Honda Road west of Skyline, Woodside Road, Polhemus Rd., Millbrae Ave., as well as Airport and Bayshore Blvd. along the bay.

Motorists are kindly requested to be on the lookout for—and patient with—cyclists, some of whom might be relatively inexperienced.

For more information please visit http://supportparks.org/tdp/ or call 650-321-1638.

1-Day San Andreas Trail Closure

 San Andreas Trail will be closed on Wednesday, July 3rd, for maintenance by San Mateo County Parks.

The trail will be closed from San Bruno Avenue to Larkspur Drive. Sawyer Camp Trail will be open.



No further closures are scheduled at this time.

Protected San Francisco blue-eyed Mary
(collinsia) near San Andreas Reservoir

Questions? Contact us:

24 hour Answer Line:  (866) 973-1476

Email: Peninsula@sfwater.org



Upcoming 2-Day Trail Closure

Sawyer Camp Trail will be closed Tuesday & Wednesday, June 18th &19th for fire prevention maintenance by San Mateo County Parks.

The trail will be closed all 6 miles and may reopen early – updates will be available online and by phone. San Andreas Trail will remain open.

No further closures are scheduled at this time.

Questions? Please call us at (866) 973-1476, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

UPDATE! Trail Closure Dates for June 2013

The corrected dates for temporary Sawyer Camp Trail closures are as follows:

Wednesday-Friday, June 5th-7th for Hetch Hetchy Water System work.

Tuesday & Wednesday, June 18th &19th for maintenance by San Mateo County Parks.

Sawyer Camp Trail will be closed all 6 miles for both periods. The trail may reopen early – updates will be available online and by phone. San Andreas Trail will remain open.

In addition, the roads around Sawyer Camp Trail will be shared with cycling events on the mornings of Sunday, June 2 and Sunday, June 9 for the AIDS Lifecycle Ride and Silicon Valley Tour de Cure, respectively. Drivers are advised to be cautious when driving and parking near the trail. The roads will NOT be closed.

No further closures are scheduled at this time.

Questions? Please call us at (866) 973-1476, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Construction Update for Water Awareness Month!

May is Water Awareness Month! So we're taking the opportunity to explain how we’re improving the way “raw water” from our Peninsula watershed flows through the Crystal Springs Reservoir System to the Harry Tracy Water Treatment Plant (HTWTP), where it is treated before being sent to customers’ taps.

 

Old outlet structures, such as the one on the left,
are being modified and cut below water level.



Water in the reservoirs is called “raw water,” a generic term used for water resources from nature, e.g. from a local watershed, before purification at a treatment plant.  Local raw water that collects in the Crystal Springs Reservoir, which is comingled with a surplus of Sierra Nevada snowmelt, is pumped through a transmission system into the San Andreas Reservoir. From this reservoir the water is drawn into the HTWTP, which is located nearby.



A crane delivers a steel beam for underwater

construction at Crystal Springs Reservoir



San Andreas Rises to Meet Your Needs   



Pipe for new Crystal Springs Pump Station



Visitors to San Andreas Trail with an astute eye may observe water levels in San Andreas Reservoir rising late this spring as our new Crystal Springs Pump Station is tested during its final stages of construction. Located near Crystal Springs Dam, the new pump station will be able to transport water from Crystal Springs Reservoir to San Andreas Reservoir with 1/3 more capacity and using less power than the old pump station, which was last substantially upgraded in the 1920s. During the testing period this spring, San Andreas Reservoir is expected to rise approximately six feet.



Work at Highway 92 Crossing, Where South to North is Upper to Lower

You’ll also notice construction activities at the south end of Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir just north of the Hwy 92 crossing. This includes seismic improvements to the Upper Crystal Springs Dam Lower Culvert (small bypass tunnel) which conveys water north from the Upper Crystal Springs Reservoir to the Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir. A durable, flexible high density polyethylene (HDPE) liner will be installed within the culvert, which crosses the San Andreas Fault, and a vertical portal will be connected to the culvert upstream of the fault.



Harry Tracy Water Treatment Plant Upgrades 50% Complete



Welding at HTWTP



Like the Crystal Springs-San Andreas Transmission System, the regional water treatment plant is also undergoing major seismic and capacity upgrades as part of the Water System Improvement Program (WSIP). The Contractor has completed pouring the base for the new 11-million gallon treated water reservoir. Crews continue to work on the addition of new filters, seismic retrofits of critical processing units, and upgrades to electrical and other systems.



We can genuinely say the Hetch Hetchy Water System is more seismically reliable today than it was a year ago. Upon completion of construction, the HTWTP will be able to sustain a capacity of 140 million gallons per day (MGD), for up to 60 days, within 24 hours following a major earthquake on the San Andreas Fault.

Concrete Pour for 11 million gallon Treated Water Reservoir at HTWTP