Thats up more than 400,000 acre-feet since early December, before the unrelenting series of atmospheric river storms blew through California between Christmas and mid-January. An official website of the United States government. looks like the CDEC website is the cause of the issue unless it actually dropped 90% in a day: Thanks for providing it for public information. Born in Seoul, Yoohyun began her career in Arizona, where she worked for two of the state's largest newspapers covering various beats, including criminal justice and education. Also a little nit. United States. Data and Tools ", The difference in soil type in the two watersheds was likely another factor. They have restoredMono Lake,improved stream flows on the North Coast and in theCentral Valleyand diminished the threat to native fish in the Bay Delta. Meant this comment for the integrated snowpack and reservoir view. Take CA Highway 120 from the park toward Groveland. Thats a very poor design. The problem is that we have no idea of knowing ahead of time what kind of storms well have and how long theyll last, but the reservoir operators have to be super careful and extra cautious, so they periodically let the water flow out. The SFPUC has also raised concerns over the fishery benefits of the States Plan. A question: the Historical Avg*, is it the value of year-today or natural year? From the main road, it's about a 20- to 25-minute drive to the parking area. Shasta, Oroville, Hetch Hetchy and many others were built by damming large rivers. Owned by the city of San Francisco, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir According to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir can store as much as 117 billion gallons for the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System, which serves San Francisco, Santa Clara, Alameda and San Mateo counties. https://engaging-data.com/ca-reservoir-level/ Quite an eye opener. reserved. The group says the recent plethora of water shows that the city could do without Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, by using other storage facilities that have filled and pursuing new projects to capture the surplus. Remaining Capacity text in the legend should be brown? Trailhead address: Evergreen Road (Hetch Hetchy Road), Yosemite National Park, CA 95321. It does not meet the California definition of renewable energy. Major snowstorm might leave you stranded, New 101 express lanes opens in Bay Area. Hetch Hetchy today | Restore Hetch Hetchy California reservoir water levels before and after winter storm What's taking so long to build a California reservoir? - CalMatters Park visitors walk across OShaughnessy Dam in Yosemite National Park on Sept. 1. "Soils that have become hydrophobic due to wildfire can also contribute to increased runoff because the water is less able to penetrate the burned soil," the department said. LK ELEANOR NR HETCH HETCHY CA. This is the best one out there. This site is a great tool, especially as we try to climb out of these drought years. Thanks for the link. Hetch Hetchy is one of nine reserviors in a water system that serves San Francisco and other Bay Area communities. I believe the spillway was designed by the State. Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. How do I pay my bill? a broad meaning that had been previously applied in an Hetch Hetchy Reservoir (Yosemite National Park) - Tripadvisor Is California's Drought Over? Here's What You Need To Know About Rain These graphs will always read low because they represent the percentage of the seasonal average at some point before the end of the season. Hetch Hetchy | Hetch Hetchy Dam & Reservoir History | Yosemite.com Water data back to 1956 are available online. The area around Shasta has more volcanic soils that absorb rainfall than the Feather River drainage. In whats known as the Bay-Delta Plan, state water regulators are amid a years-long effort to negotiate a policy for how much water should be kept in rivers that flow to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to meet the needs of both people and wildlife. Ive been meaning to search for aquifer levels. The dam and reservoir are the source for the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct, which provides water for over . Great visualization Chris! San Francisco will be in great shape going into 2023, said Spreck Rosekrans, executive director of Restore Hetch Hetchy Its unfortunate that too little is being done with these flows to recharge groundwater basins to help cities and farms and even restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley., Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. The SFPUC has voiced concerns with the Plan, as it would dramatically reduce the agencys water supply, leaving it subject to significant rationing in droughts and more extreme weather conditions brought on by climate change. Interactive California Reservoir Levels Dashboard - Engaging Data reservoir violates the California Constitution specifically the The remaining 15 percent of water comes from runoff in the Alameda and Peninsula watersheds. O'Shaughnessy Dam is a 430-foot (131 m) high concrete arch-gravity dam in Tuolumne County, California, United States.It impounds the Tuolumne River, forming the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir at the lower end of Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park, about 160 miles (260 km) east of San Francisco. . Can a rock climber help 'restore' Yosemite's Hetch Hetchy Valley? Thank you! Emissions must be offset by dedicated conservation programs or renewable energy generation such as wind or solar. Email: kellie.hwang@sfchronicle.com, Yoohyun.Jung@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KellieHwang, @yoohyun_jung. Flood control agencies (not DWR) have the most say in regard to releases. Northern California's reservoir levels continued to rise in the week after an atmospheric river slammed the state with torrential rain and high winds. It can take several days to see the full impact on reservoirs as water continues to run through watersheds and into streams in the days after a storm. The commission plans to decide Nov. 23 whether to formally ask customers to conserve water. . Much of the recent inflow was to Hetch Hetchy, which can hold. Hetch Hetchy water travels 160 miles via gravity from Yosemite to the San Francisco Bay Area. The data on water storage comes from the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) Data Exchange Center. Interesting. Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Similar findings are described in theUC Davis studyRe-Assembling Hetch HetchyandUS Bureau of Reclamation study. The middle portion of the watershed from New Don Pedro Reservoir to above Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is characterized by deep canyons and forested terrain. Could the reason be that the water from Lake Alma or seems to be used for energy generation, and that there does not seem to be any agricultural or urban use? A Map and Guide to Hetch Hetchy Reservoir at Yosemite - TripSavvy Thanks. Jeff, the average changes daily as well. So many facets beautifully chartered. Climbers Timmy O'Neill (left) and Lucho Rivera atop a wall overlooking Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Water is rapidly flowing into the state's reservoirs. The SFPUC hoards water in dry years when they dont need to, said Peter Drekmeier, policy director at the conservation group Tuolumne River Trust. Rizzardo said there was a decent amount of flow into the reservoirs into January, even though weather-wise it was bone dry, a result of lower elevation snow at 4,000 to 6,000 feet making its way into the reservoirs. Gavin Newsom asked all California residents to voluntarily reduce use by 15% compared with use in 2019. Its water supply Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, in the Sierra Nevada is 80% full, the ground is saturated and near-record rainfall has occurred in recent days. CHERRY LK NR HETCH HETCHY CA - USGS Water Data for the Nation Only improvement I would suggest is an improvement of the display of the smaller reservoirs so the names are readable. Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite was 69 percent full on Tuesday, 150 percent of normal for this time of year. Over the summer, Gov. Water is such a fascinating topic and Id hate to have to be a water manager making a decision on how much to release to avoid reservoir flooding. These sources are diverse in both the origin of the supply snowmelt, rainfall and recharge of groundwater and their location within our system. provides water to 2.7 million residents and businesses in the San For example, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park provides 85 percent of San Francisco's total water needs. Click here for the SFPUC's 2020State of the Regional Water System Report. finding an alternative water and power source (Hetchy Hetchy also During late summer and early fall, it will be necessary to move stored supplies from Cherry or Don Pedro Reservoirs into the pipeline. Units are in kaf, thousands of acre feet. In fact, thanks to a little snowmelt, water levels were up for all reservoirs from December to January. California Reservoir Levels - Dashboard and visualization showing current water levels in California reservoirs . San Francisco voters have demonstrated their opposition to The advocacy group Restore Hetch Hetchy took its case for Im curious why the percentage of capacity has stayed almost flat for the past 6 weeks or so and below historical average. Best of luck out there in California! Yep. May 24, 2022 - BAWSCA Statement About the Adoption of a Systemwide Water Use Reduction of 11%. Water data back to 1930 are available online. This is a very clear graph and I cannot imagine the hours you have put in while setting it up and doing the maintenance. Additionally, the bounty helps the more than two dozen communities in Alameda, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties that get their water from the city. If we reach 100% after the current rains and then it stops raining for the season, then our percentage will start going down. For example, the average storage level for Feb. 7 is usually 65% of capacity for Trinity Dam, but currently its at 31%. For perspective, water demand across the SFPUC's service area of 2.7 million people was about 205,000 acre-feet last fiscal year. "It's an increase of a few percent, . It is on the graph. Restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley will allow all three power plants to remain operational but will reduce power generation at these by about 20% an average of about 350 million kWh per year. The regional water system provides water to 2.4 million people in San Francisco, Santa Clara, Alameda and San Mateo counties. In Yosemite National Park, the Hetch Hetchy reservoir relies. Last week, I paid a visit to Hetch Hetchy. //this function is called from the javascript from within the iframe after the contents of iframe are loaded (and after an additional 150ms delay) Just trying to learn here Thanks so much! While the rainfall has been bad for many people, I am happy to see Californias reservoirs are benefiting slightly, Amen! There are no alerts at this time. Its essential to understand that the dispute over San Franciscos use of Hetch Hetchy is not about the use of water only how it is stored. Data have been checked by the reporting agency. No it is correct. As it is, at first glance, it looks like shasta is at the top because its 28000 instead of 4552. very nice product overall. With modest additional investments San Francisco will be able to maintain an uninterrupted supply of high quality Tuolumne River water. Important Legacy real-time page. This November, a group of environmental advocates will put forth a ballot measure that would require the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to develop a plan to drain Hetch Hetchy. Wife of missing Bay Area radio host says Jeffrey Vandergrift will not Sen. Dianne Feinstein is hospitalized in San Francisco with shingles, California extends deadline to file 2022 income taxes to match IRS decision, Here's where California reservoir levels stand after this week's rains, Going to Tahoe this weekend? It would be really interesting to visualize whether were able to replenish ground water this year after all the precipitation. do so. The reservoir was at 75 percent capacity as of May 5, totaling 269,963 acre-feet of water (an acre-foot is nearly 326,000 gallons). HETCH HETCHY RES A HETCH HETCHY CA. Reservoir levels rising. I notice Briones Reservoir is not on the list. BAWSCA agencies advocated for the capital improvement program that was adopted by the SFPUC in 2002, and are actively monitoring its implementation. "This was rare for October. Lake Shasta and Mendocino are also well below average. Congressman Tom McClintock has re-introduced theYosemite National Park Equal Access and Fairness Act, a bill that would allow non-motorized Sign up to receive blog posts and other news by email. dam and restoring the valley. globe.height = globe.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+40+"px"; The height of the row indicates how much water the reservoir could hold. As of 5pm on 1/18, the data appears correct (~58k acre feet), but an hour ago it was reading off the chart (3X above what they are allowed to store right now). She has been with SFGATE for more than 10 years. Sometimes this is well done sometimes it is poorly done. Your Privacy Choices (Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads). Absolutely zero reason to be releasing this much water from these reservoirs. It could be the 180% of historical average of snowpack, which will be melting in a couple months. All rights Usually with warm ARs, you get a dramatic increase in inflow, which can fill even very large reservoirs relatively quickly, like Oroville in 2017. administration attempted to allocate funds to study removing the How come the totals disagree with the cal map graphic? I also added the ability to select specific reservoirs to display on the graph and share a custom URL which will point those selected reservoirs (click on list button on top right of dashboard). The amount stored is increasing, just not by a lot. It seems likely one of those two readings is wrong. This website along with another shows that Eastmans level is still rising even though we have not had rain in more than a week. Yes, and why is Twitchell Dam also not listed? I would like to make one small suggestion:. I like the comparisons of last year, and the historical average. Kellie has held many leadership roles for the Asian American Journalists Association, including most recently a board member for the San Francisco chapter. Curt, Good point re the colder weather dropping more snow instead of rain at higher elevations this year. 95 percent of. Since June 2011, the Water Enterprise has operated the Citys Emergency Firefighting Water System (EFWS, formerly known as the Auxiliary Water Supply System (AWSS)), an independent, high-pressure water supply system for fire suppression. . Our flagship blog features analysis of news from our staff and announcements of upcoming events. Sierra Club unsuccessfully fought the reservoirs establishment Part of the lake is on the California side, but it has zero California water impact beyond the immediate Tahoe residents. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Subscribe to receive email notifications of new content. This file photo shows Shasta Lake. Theyve also seen drought surcharges on their water bills. That cant be right. 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. Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System, which serves San Francisco, They also built a spillway that was too steep and did not install energy dissipators along the spillway. Hi Keith, you could de-select the large reservoirs from the menu at the top right. however, Ill update the code to include it soon. This other page: Water Quality Updates | Water Resources It takes a fair amount of work to make graphs compared to other more plug-and-play libraries but its very customizable, which is a plus. }, false); Lake Tahoe really isnt part of California water, as the outflow goes to Nevada. All Rights Reserved. Call 209-372-0200 for the latest road and weather conditions, Hetch Hetchy Road Daily Hours: 8 am to 5 pm What period does CA use for Historical Average? It will be very different depending on the period chosen. Super frustrating. While forecasters can predict the likelihood of future rainfall over large areas, they cant pinpoint it to the degree needed to determine whether a particular watershed/reservoir will overflow and cause damage and loss of life. supplies water to the San Francisco Bay Area. Meanwhile, the group Restore Hetch Hetchy is urging the SFPUC to abandon Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Very nice work. construction in the 1920s, various groups have lobbied to restore The information on Isabella has been fluctuating drastically (by a factor of 10!) Navigation and Navigable Waters 33.208.82 Hetch Hetchy, Cherry Valley, and Don Pedro Dams and Reservoirs. mandate within How can I match up other monitoring locations similar to the ones on this Interactive Dashboard? An improvement: Could you include a bar for Last year at this date? Its currently listed on this page as 29kaf full, but the usgs.gov page below says Hetch Hetchy is at 299.7kaf full. Why isnt Lake Sonoma included? This is a marimekko (or mekko) graph which may take some time to understand if you arent used to seeing them. Hetch Hetchy Water System The system originates more than 100 miles from its primary customers, in Yosemite National Park. After record snowfall in December was followed by a dry January, there are renewed concerns of drought. The Bay Area portion of the System includes water collection, treatment, and transmission facilities from the Alameda East Portal to the wholesale service area and terminal reservoirs in San Francisco. Its not possible to see or really interact with the tiniest slivers. Thanks for developing it, and for sharing it with the rest of us! Monitoring location 11275500 is associated with a LAKE, RESERVOIR, IMPOUNDMENT in TUOLUMNE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. San Francisco maintained the phrase only You can also share a custom URL by clicking the Save URL button which will put the custom URL into the URL bar of your browser which you can then copy and share. Commission. Even with all the rain and floods, still a long way to fill them to capacity. After the reservoirs PDF Water Supply Update - California Great stuff. For most of the year it will still be possible to divert the flow of the Tuolumne River into the pipeline just downstream of the National Park boundary. document.getElementById('globes').contentWindow.location.reload(); I hear from the farmers that we waste 80% of the water by flushing it into the ocean. I also hear the environmentalists say, the streams and wildlife need water, so flush it into the ocean. Its an interesting dilemma. Whats going on with the water level at Oroville? Hetch Hetchy is Monitoring location 11275500. BAWSCA Board of Directors Meeting, March 16, 2023, 6:30 PM. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS The extensive amount of storage, which is designed to benefit the Bay Area as droughts become more severe with climate change, has become a sticking point in a longstanding environmental battle over how much water the city should be taking from rivers. Great work. Instructions: The remaining 15 percent of water comes from runoff in the Alameda and Peninsula watersheds. If you look at the inflow data on the major reservoirs, its pretty flat. 501(c)3 organization, federal tax ID #942419885. Your email address will not be published. Exclusive: Stunning photos show Yosemite National Park under 15 feet of Warriors treating Andrew Wiggins with understandable patience, but his California snowpack hits highest level this century for March, could Map shows which parts of California exceeded entire years worth of rain, Map shows stunning improvement in California drought, Last chance to see: Bay Bridge lights turn off on Sunday. San Franciscos water-bank in Don Pedro Reservoir, downstream on the Tuolumne River, holds twice as much water as Hetch Hetchy. For each of the top 8 reservoirs the storage has increased by a total of 217 kaf, however). So included in DWR #S. currently, there is a lot more water coming in than going out. Near the town of La Grange, the river exits the Sierra Nevada foothills and flows through a gently sloping alluvial valley that is incised into Pleistocene alluvial fans. The worst possible scenario is it just remains completely dry. During most years, there will be a 30-day shut down of the Hetch Hetchy source in the winter months. I was thinking that it would be interesting to compare inflows and outflows. SF's Hetch Hetchy water system is almost full. Is that a good thing? Lake Mendocino and Lake Berryessa water levels stayed the same. I do not see Diamond Valley Lake Resevoir on this page. Santa Clara, Alameda and San Mateo counties. 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. Construction of the regional water system proceeded over the following 20 years, with water first delivered in 1934. Thanks for putting this together. Great resource! The Department of Water Resources, which manages the state's water supply, said in a statement that there are several possible reasons for the difference in inflow amounts between the two reservoirs. The trail takes you to the base of Wapama Falls, passing two smaller waterfalls (during spring) on the way. A dry January with little rainfall across much of Northern California actually didnt hurt the states water storage levels, according to data from the California Department of Water Resources. Current and Historical Visualization, https://cdec.water.ca.gov/dynamicapp/QueryDaily?s=HTH, https://cdec.water.ca.gov/dynamicapp/QueryDaily?s=SHA, https://engaging-data.com/ca-reservoir-level/, https://cdec.water.ca.gov/reportapp/javareports?name=RES, Visualizing Californias Water Storage Reservoirs and Snowpack, Interactive California Reservoir Levels Dashboard. Current conditions of LAKE OR RESERVOIR WATER SURFACE ELEVATION ABOVE NGVD 1929 and RESERVOIR STORAGE are available.