Off-Road Trail Alert January 15

Watch for possible overflows on trails along San Mateo Creek on Thursday, January 15. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission will conduct an emergency draw-down test at Lower Crystal Springs Dam, releasing water at increasing intervals into the creek, from approximately 7:30 a.m. to late afternoon.  Questions or further information:  mliapes@sfwater.com. 

Trail closures July 9 and 10

The Sawyer Camp Trail will be closed for mowing tomorrow, July 9, from Hillcrest to Jepson, and Thursday, July 10, from Jepson to South Gate.

Rescheduled Trail Closures

Previously scheduled trail closures in June for annual mowing were postponed to the following dates: July 2: San Bruno Ave. – Larkspur; July 9: Hillcrest – Jepson; July 10: South Gate – Jepson. For further information, please call San Mateo County Park Service, 650-573-2592.

The WSIP Turns 10!

This year the Water System Improvement Program (WSIP) turns 10! One of the largest infrastructure projects in the nation, the WSIP is repairing, replacing and upgrading our aging water infrastructure to ensure we can deliver water to customers following an earthquake. We’ve gotten a little nostalgic about how far we’ve come in the last 10 years, and we would like to share this video with you.



Now 80 percent complete, the WSIP has already provided increased reliability to the water supply for customers as a result of the completion of some of the program’s major projects. The program has created over 6 million construction craft hours to date, employing more than 11,000 workers since 2007. Nearly half of those workers live in our four-county service area.

Creek Clearing Work Party on June 14—Free Barbeque Afterward

Join environmentalists, community members, the City of Hillsborough, and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission for the first San Mateo Creek cleanup work party, followed by a free barbeque on Saturday morning, June 14. Meet at 9 a.m., South School, 303 El Cerrito Avenue, Hillsborough, and come back for lunch afterward.

San Mateo Creek—now clogged with trash from the highways and other dumpsites—is the only bayside creek in San Mateo County that’s a designated steelhead stream.

Help us bring this small but vital waterway back to life.

Please RSVP to smcreekcleanup@gmail.com.by Wednesday, June 11, 5 p.m. so that we have enough food. Also let us know if you have questions or special food requirements.

(Bring sturdy shoes, layers, sunscreen, work gloves--and an appetite.) See you there.

Sawyer Camp Trail Closure June 17-19

The Sawyer Camp Trail will be closed June 17, 18, and 19 for annual mowing. For further questions, please call the San Mateo County Park Service at 650-573-2592.

Lane Closure on Crystal Springs Road in San Mateo – May 29 to June 10

Crystal Springs Road between Skyline Blvd. and Polhemus will close to one lane from May 29 to June 10.

Flaggers will direct drivers, cyclists and runners through one open lane. Visitors to the southern trailhead of Sawyer Camp Trail should expect delays during these dates.

Construction workers who were connecting a new water pipeline discovered damage beneath the roadway.  This condition requires emergency repairs to be completed as soon as possible.

Please call (866) 973-1476 with any questions.

Sawyer Camp Trail Partial Closure: April 21 through 25

The northern section of Sawyer Camp Trail will be closed from Monday, April 21 through Friday, April 25 for seasonal maintenance by San Mateo County Parks.

The trail will be closed from Hillcrest Avenue in Millbrae to just north of the Jepson Laurel area (a 2.5 mile section).

The southern trailhead at Skyline Blvd. and Crystal Springs Road will remain open, with no through-access to Hillcrest.

This work is necessary for fire prevention and general trail safety. Additional closures for maintenance and repairs are likely this spring and summer. For automatic updates, please subscribe to this blog by entering your email address into the box on the right-hand side of this page.

Trail updates are also posted on Twitter: @sawyercamptrail.

Sawyer Camp Trail Open

The entire 6-mile Sawyer Camp Trail is now open.

San Mateo County Parks recently completed seasonal fire prevention and maintenance work. No closures are currently planned, but additional closures for maintenance are likely this spring.

Please subscribe (see right) or Follow us on Twitter: @sawyercamptrail for upates.

Important Update: Sawyer Camp Trail Partial Closure

The southern trailhead at Skyline Blvd. and Crystal Springs Road is now closed from the south gate to the Jepson Laurel picnic area. It will reopen for weekend visitors at 6 a.m. Saturday, March 1 and remain open all weekend.

Next week from Monday, March 3rd through Friday, March 7th, this same 3.5 mile section of Sawyer Camp Trail will close again. Park Rangers are removing hazardous foliage to prevent fires during the upcoming dry season.

The northern section of the trail is now open and is expected to remain open next week. The northern section may be accessed from the trailhead located at Hillcrest Blvd. in Millbrae. The Jepson Laurel picnic site is a 2.5 mile walk south from Hillcrest.

Additional trail closures for maintenance work are likely this spring. Please subscribe (see right) for automatic email updates or Follow us on Twitter: @sawyercamptrail.

Sawyer Camp Trail Partial Closures for Hazardous Tree Removal

The southern section of Sawyer Camp Trail is closed now through Friday, February 28th for emergency tree removal by San Mateo County Park Rangers and Calfire. The trail is closed at Crystal Springs Road and Skyline up to the Jepson Laurel picnic area.

The northern section at Hillcrest Blvd. is now open, but there is no through access to Skyline.

Tree removal is scheduled for the northern section next week. From March 3rd through March 7th, Sawyer Camp Trail will be closed at Hillcrest Blvd., with the southern trailhead open to the 3.5 mile marker.

The entire trail will be open Saturday and Sunday.

Temporary Trail Closure

On Tuesday, February 4th, the southern section of Sawyer Camp Trail will be closed from the trailhead at Crystal Springs Rd., north 3 miles to just before the Jepson Laurel. The trail will be closed all day for maintenance. The northern trailhead at Hillcrest Blvd. 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.

Trail Closure & Opening!

Temporary Trail Closure
On Tuesday, Jan. 21st, the northern section of Sawyer Camp Trail will be closed from the Hillcrest Drive entrance, south 2.5 miles to just before the Jepson Laurel. The trail will be closed all day for Water System-related maintenance. The southern trailhead at Crystal Springs Road will remain open.

Trail Re-opening
San Andreas Trail's southern section, between Hillcrest Dr. and Larkspur Dr., has been repaired and is now open! It is gravel-surfaced, so cyclists must detour via the bike route along Skyline Drive. This section connects Sawyer Camp Trail to San Andreas Trail.

San Andreas Trail, Hillcrest trailhead

Questions? 

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

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.