go back home

CLICK "REFRESH" TO ENSURE VIEWING THE MOST RECENT INFO.

Subject: Attend the hearing on SF Water Projects next Tuesday Date: Wed, 5 Oct 2005 21:20:06 +0000 To the Alameda Creek Alliance e-mail list:

Please attend the public scoping meeting for the San Francisco water supply projects next Tuesday, October 11 in Fremont or Wednesday, October 19 in San Francisco. Wear your ACA t-shirt and speak out in favor of the ACA’s steelhead restoration proposals discussed below. The Fremont Scoping meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 11, 2005, from 6-8 PM at the Fremont Main Library, Fukaya Room, 2400 Stevenson Boulevard in Fremont. The San Francisco scoping meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 19, 2005, from 7-9 PM at the Tenderloin Community School, 627 Turk Street (at Van Ness) in San Francisco.

Scoping hearings for the SFPUC’s Environmental Impact Report for the Water Supply Improvement Program (WSIP) will cover planned water supply and infrastructure projects in the Alameda Creek watershed, including the Calaveras Dam replacement, Sunol rubber dam, Sunol Valley Water Treatment Plant enlargement, and fish restoration activities. Now is the time for San Francisco to hear from you that its $4.3 billion water upgrade plan should not harm Alameda Creek. The SFPUC also needs to include steelhead trout restoration actions in their plan. In June, 68 Bay Area conservation groups called for San Francisco to restore fish runs to Alameda Creek. What we are asking the SFPUC to do: - Abide by state Fish and Game Codes requiring sufficient instream flows to sustain steelhead trout and other native fish in good condition - Immediately implement an interim operation plan to protect steelhead and rainbow trout and their habitat prior to the rebuilding of Calaveras Dam, which is scheduled to be completed in 2011. This should include providing instream flows, excluding cattle from fish spawning streams, and controlling predaceous bass in reservoirs. - Cease operation of and remove the Alameda Diversion Dam, which captures virtually all stream flow from upper Alameda Creek and is a barrier to steelhead migration into the headwaters of Alameda Creek - Abandon efforts to construct an unnecessary water recapture dam in the Sunol Valley (the so-called “Alameda Creek Fishery Enhancement Project”), at a savings of $17.5 million - Increase recycling and water conservation - Develop a just and sustainable water system that protects wildlife habitat and restores the Alameda Creek, Tuolumne River, and Peninsula watersheds affected by SFPUC water management The letter from the 68 Bay Area groups to the SFPUC is at http://www.alamedacreek.org/Home%20page/SFPUC%20letter.pdf.

Also check out the article in today’s Modesto Bee about how the SFPUC’s plan would harm the Tuolumne River: http://www.modbee.com/local/v-dp_morning/story/11308658p-12057939c.html Background: The WSIP is a program to implement the service goals and system performance objectives established by the SFPUC for the regional water system in the areas of water quality, seismic reliability, delivery reliability, and water supply through the year 2030. The SFPUC is planning to spend at least $3.4 billion on the WSIP to seismically retrofit the system’s pipelines and other infrastructure. WSIP projects include replacing Calaveras Dam and the proposed construction of the rubber dam. The SFPUC diverts 86% of natural stream flows tributary to upper Alameda Creek into Calaveras and San Antonio Reservoirs for water supply. The Alameda Creek Diversion Dam also diverts water into Calaveras Reservoir from upper Alameda Creek. The SFPUC signed an agreement in 1997 to release minimal flows from Calaveras Reservoir to restore about five miles of Alameda Creek in the Sunol Valley, but to date has not released any water. For more information about the WSIP and the scoping meetings visit http://sfwater.org/detail.cfm/MSC_ID/104/MTO_ID/202/MC_ID/7/C_ID/2638/holdSe. Written comments will also be accepted at these meetings and until the close of business on October 24, 2005. Written comments should be sent to the San Francisco Planning Department, Attn: Paul Maltzer, Environmental Review Officer, WSIP PEIR, 30 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 4150, San Francisco, CA 94103, or provided via email to diana.sokolove@sfgov.org. If you would like to be removed from this list, please notify me by return e-mail. ************************************ Jeff Miller, Director Alameda Creek Alliance P. O. Box 192 Canyon, CA 94516 (510) 499-9185 Web site www.alamedacreek.org “Protecting and restoring the natural ecosystems of the Alameda Creek watershed”

go back home