Restore Hetch Hetchy

Home >> Hetch Hetchy in the News >> Benefits of a Restored Hetch Hetchy

Benefits of a Restored Hetch Hetchy Valley

By Ron Good

Mariposa Gazette, January 21, 2003

The following is the response by Ron Good to a Mariposa Gazette column by Leroy Radanovich. The newspaper printed this submission except for the Don Hodel quotes.

I am writing in reference to the recent column by Leroy Radanovich about Yosemite National Park's Hetch Hetchy Valley.

John Muir, the Father of our National Parks, called Yosemite National Park's Hetch Hetchy Valley "a grand landscape garden, one of Nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples," Unfortunately in 1913, the City of San Francisco was authorized by Congress to build a dam and reservoir in that "precious mountain temple," Hetch Hetchy Valley.

Our organization, Restore Hetch Hetchy, is seeking to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley with a "win-win" outcome for Yosemite and for the San Francisco Bay Area water and power users.

Leroy Radanovich's column mentions that a graduate student at UC Davis, Sarah Null, recently completed her masters degree thesis on possible economic and engineering options for restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley. Sarah Null's thesis is not the first time Hetch Hetchy's restoration has been studied. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan's Interior Secretary, Don Hodel, proposed that Hetch Hetchy be restored and he commissioned a preliminary study by the engineers at the Bureau of Reclamation. The Bureau of Reclamation's preliminary study identified eleven "win-win" possibilities for restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley and for addressing the water storage and electrical power needs of the San Francisco Bay Area.

In a September 2002 interview, Secretary of Interior Hodel summarized the findings of the Bureau of Reclamation study:

"The Bureau's preliminary studies indicated that there was a way to get even more water out of the system than was then being received, because San Francisco was not operating the dam in a coordinated fashion. If the dam were gone, and the system were operated in a coordinated way . . . they believed they could actually have more water than was then available."

Both graduate student Sarah Null's thesis and the Bureau of Reclamation's preliminary study identified the Don Pedro Reservoir, already built downstream on the Tuolumne River and which holds about six times as much water as the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, as a possible water storage replacement option for the water currently stored at Hetch Hetchy.

Our organization, Restore Hetch Hetchy, would like to see the Bureau of Reclamation's preliminary study updated so that reasonable, rational, "win-win" options can be explored in a detailed Feasibility Study for Yosemite and for the San Francisco Bay Area water and power users. If, for example, the Don Pedro Reservoir were increased in size (from its current 2 million acre-feet), there would be more water storage capacity, more flood control capacity, and more electricity generated at its hydro-electric power plant. Those are the kind of "win-win" outcomes we are seeking.

Another option should also be explored: In November 2002, San Francisco voters passed a $1.6 billion water revenue bond measure to fix aging pipes to meet modern-day seismic standards and to expand the system. One of the expansion proposals that San Francisco is already pursuing is to increase the size of the existing Calaveras Reservoir in Alameda County from 30,000 acre-feet to over 400,000 acre-feet. The option of storing the water currently held in the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir (capacity of 360,000 acre-feet) in an expanded Calaveras Reservoir deserves to be explored.

In his interview, Secretary Hodel goes on to say:

"Well, in my background, I was also Administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration in the Pacific northwest, which is the power marketing agency from the thirty federal dams up there. So, I'm not an opponent of dams. I don't have a fundamental objection to dams. But, there are some dams, such as Hetch Hetchy, which were built a long time ago and it's not unreasonable to take a look at those dams to see whether they're still serving the same function and they make as much sense as they did when they were built . . . . I think that you could fund the removal of Hetch Hetchy dam with a public campaign that wouldn't require any federal money . . . It's like the restoration of the Statue of Liberty. That was done with public funds, not with taxpayer's money. And, it was a great project."

Having lived and worked (much of that time at the Ahwahnee Hotel) in Yosemite Valley for four years (1998-2002), I have a pretty good appreciation for the economic, recreational, and spiritual "value" of Yosemite National Park to the American people (including folks in Mariposa County). According to a YARTS survey, Hetch Hetchy Valley is THE least visited place in Yosemite National Park, with only about 2% of people surveyed saying they were going to visit Hetch Hetchy (compared with 85% of the survey respondents saying they were going to visit Yosemite Valley). Recently, the National Parks and Conservation Association (NPCA) completed a report documenting the economic benefit of Yosemite National Park to gateway communities, such as Mariposa County. According to this NPCA report, nearly 9,000 jobs and nearly $119 million in income were generated in Yosemite's gateway communities during the year 2001.

Imagine how many more people could be employed and how much more income could be generated in Yosemite's gateway communities if Hetch Hetchy Valley were available for public enjoyment. Imagine how the American people would respond if given the opportunity to camp out and recreate in a restored Hetch Hetchy Valley and a restored Tuolumne River.

Imagine the opportunity we Americans have to allow Nature to re-create another place like Yosemite Valley. There is no other opportunity like this anywhere else on Earth.

To get involved in the effort to restore Hetch Hetchy, contact Restore Hetch Hetchy at: info@hetchhetchy.org, To get involved in the effort to restore Hetch Hetchy, contact Restore Hetch Hetchy at: info@hetchhetchy.org, 6114 La Salle Ave. #457, Oakland, CA 94611. Telephone: (510) 655-1876.

For inquiries about this website, contact the webmaster, at: webmaster@hetchhetchy.org

Updated 12-15-03

FastCounter by bCentral