SFPUC Workshops Shed Light on Science and Water Supply and Demand

At the request of Commissioner Ed Harrington, the SFPUC hosted three workshops to address differences between the agency and environmental and fishing groups. The first two focused on the science behind the Bay Delta Plan and competing Tuolumne River Voluntary Agreement (TRVA). Our NGO panel included Jon Rosenfield from Baykeeper, Doug Obegi from NRDC, Barry Nelson representing the Golden State Salmon Association, and Jeanette Howard from The Nature Conservancy. Not only did they make a very strong case that fish need water, they also poked rather large holes in the “science” supporting the TRVA.

Recordings of the workshops are posted here.

The third workshop focused on water supply and demand, and included an NGO panel consisting of Heather Cooley from the Pacific Institute, Chris Shutes from the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, and Peter Drekmeier from TRT. The workshop was extremely productive in that it 1) forced SFPUC staff to use actual demand projections instead of the sales cap (contractual obligations) in their Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP), reducing current demand in equations by 25%; 2) acknowledged that shaving a year off the SFPUC’s 8.5-year Design Drought would reduce their water supply shortfall by about 28 million gallons per day; and 3) identified a drought planning scenario that would allow the Bay Delta Plan’s flow standards to be implemented without causing the SFPUC to run out of water.

A recording of the workshop is posted here.