by Thomas W. Doudiet : westsideobserver – excerpt
Thomas W. Doudiet is Assistant Deputy Chief, SFFD, retired, and 60 year Westside resident…
In our “outlying” neighborhoods, if the “Big One” were to strike the Bay Area today, the fifteen San Francisco neighborhoods that lack the high-pressure hydrants, and their 138,000 buildings, occupied by almost 400,000 people, would be virtuallwety defenseless against post-earthquake fires…
More than 15 San Francisco neighborhoods could burn to the ground due to a lack of water at the SF Fire Department’s disposal after a major earthquake…
Some facts that the SFPUC is reluctant to disclose:
The California State Water Code Section 73503 specifies that the water in San Francisco’s three terminal reservoirs (Sunset, Merced Manor and University Mound) is jointly owned by the City and 27 “wholesale water customers” (cities on the Peninsula) and that, when a regional disaster (such as an earthquake) occurs, the City is legally obligated to share this water “equitably” with the Peninsula cities.
As stated in the August 12, 2003 minutes of the SFPUC by the General Manager of the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency (BAWSCA), of the 327 million gallons in the three terminal reservoirs (which is 79% of the water in all of San Francisco’s municipal reservoirs) only 1/3 actually belongs to San Francisco.
Statements from these same minutes, by both SFPUC staff and Commissioners, confirm that, due to the mandate of the State Water Code, after a major earthquake the City could have as little as 86 million gallons (less than a one day supply) remaining in its reservoirs, due to the requirement of back-flowing jointly-owned water down to the Peninsula cities. An earlier Civil Grand Jury report (2003) cited these same alarming limitations and called for a citywide expansion of the saltwater high-pressure hydrant system. …(more)