San Francisco PUC Dumps 50 Million Gallons Of Water Into Bay To Test Drainage Upgrades
SAN MATEO (KCBS) — The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission will dump millions of gallons of water into the Bay and some Peninsula residents may notice their local creek on the rise.
It may seem counterintuitive to release 50 million gallons of water into the Bay when state residents are being asked to stop watering our lawns due to the ongoing drought, but that's just what will happen as new emergency valves installed at the Lower Crystal Springs Dam, as part of an upgrade, are tested.
SFPUC spokesman Tyrone Jue told KCBS that engineers will release the water Thursday morning from two valves at the rate 600 cubic feet per second creating rising levels in San Mateo Creek as if it was raining heavily.
"It's going to be about 50 million gallons that's going to be released down the creek. They will see the creek level rise slightly and we have people stationed at key locations along the entire creek to make sure to monitor those levels to make sure it never reaches any sort of unsafe conditions," he said.
Crystal Springs is nearly full so the loss there shouldn't be noticeable. San Mateo Creek is in the process of being restored to its natural habitat so Jue said they they don't want to do this test later and possibly damage any of that restoration.
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