Study Says Hetch Hetchy Dam Removal Feasible - Hold Water Downstream

"It has been more than 80 years since the Hetch Hetchy Valley disappeared under the waters gathered behind O'Shaughnessy Dam, but its lost High Sierra splendor still resonates with nature lovers. John Muir called Hetch Hetchy the "wonderful exact counterpart" to Yosemite Valley; old photos and narratives bear him out.

It is a valley about 9 miles long and 1 mile wide, ringed by granite walls and spires towering 2,000 feet. Before the dam, the Tuolumne River tracked through the valley floor, past verdant meadows and copses of black oak and ponderosa pine. When the valley was inundated in 1923 to provide water to San Francisco, it was assumed it would remain submerged forever. But two months after a Bay Area environmental organization announced a study supporting the restoration of long-drowned Hetch Hetchy Valley, the idea has gained a degree of momentum.

A recent study by the group Environmental Defense indicates the valley could be resurrected, with water needs met by transferring water to Don Pedro Reservoir and building additional infrastructure. The study, which estimated it would cost between $500 million to $1.6 billion to expand water storage facilities below Hetch Hetchy, augments earlier analyses by UC Davis and the U. S. Department of Interior, both concluding that restoration is possible without threatening state water supplies. Earlier this month, the Schwarzenegger administration announced it was authorizing a state study to evaluate restoration scenarios.

Still, there are major obstacles. Even if the state gets behind the idea, officials in San Francisco n which owns the dam n and other San Francisco Bay Area communities that get their water from Hetch Hetchy will need convincing. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission general manager Susan Leal have been tepid at best to restoration proposals. The National Park Service n which would manage the valley if it is restored, because it lies within the boundaries of Yosemite National Park n is resolutely neutral on the issue."

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