SACRAMENTO - Assemblymembers Joe Canciamilla (D- Pittsburg) and Lois Wolk (D- Davis) sent a letter to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today asking him to look into the feasibility of restoring the Hetch Hetchy Valley without depriving the City of San Francisco of its water supply and source of hydroelectric power.

Hetch Hetchy Valley is located within the boundaries of Yosemite National Park. The valley has often been called Yosemite Valley's twin because of its waterfalls and granite spires. Hetch Hetchy Valley was completely flooded in 1923 when the O'Shaughnessy Dam was constructed on the Tuolumne River. Currently, the Hetch Hetchy reservoir provides drinking water to the City of San Francisco and portions of Alameda, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. The system generates hydroelectric power as well.

There have been many advocates in the past eighty years who have worked to restore the Hetch Hetchy Valley including the great naturalist and founder of the Sierra Club, John Muir, and former Interior Secretary Donald Hodel. Most recently, a study was conducted by the University of California, Davis using a computer model called California Value Integrated Network (CALVIN). The study calculated the effects on San Francisco's water supply in the absence of the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Researchers were surprised to discover that by using existing storage capacity in downstream reservoirs, the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir could be retired without a loss of water to San Francisco and outlying communities.

According to the CALVIN Study, the City of San Francisco could instead use water from the New Don Pedro Reservoir, the Cherry Reservoir and the Eleanor Reservoir which have a combined storage capacity of 2.5 million acre feet of water. Through agreements with the owners of New Don Pedro Reservoir and the building of a short pipeline connection with the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct, San Francisco could cease to use the Hetch Hetchy Valley for water storage, without losing a drop of water supply.

"This idea is worthy of review by the State of California. California and the nation could recover one of its natural jewels, now a forgotten and seldom visited corner of Yosemite National Park. Meanwhile, San Francisco could continue to receive its water supply from the same system with only a relatively minor investment," Canciamilla and Wolk said.

Assemblymember Canciamilla is the Chairman of the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee and Wolk serves as a Committee member. Canciamilla and Wolk asked the Governor to instruct the Secretary of the Resources Agency, Mike Chrisman, to require the Department of Water Resources to review the UC Davis study, examine the feasibility of restoring the Hetch Hetchy Valley and outline the necessary actions the state must take to achieve this restoration.