SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) announced that a landmark agreement ensuring long-term, management and sustainability of the South Westside Groundwater Basin was finalized and signed between SFPUC and three San Mateo County organizations Dec. 16, according to a press release.
Stretching from San Francisco to Burlingame, the basin has the capacity to store 20 billion gallons of groundwater in a regional water “savings account” to protect against future earthquakes and droughts, stated the release.
The release reported that the $113 million Regional Groundwater Storage and Recovery project is in partnership between the city of Daly, San Bruno, SFPUC and California Water Service Company.
During years of normal or heavy rainfall, in order to reduce the quantity of groundwater pumped from the South Westside Groundwater Basin, the project will supply additional surface water to the partner agencies in San Mateo County, continued the release.
Now that an environmental review has been completed, construction of the project will move forward in 2015 to be finished in 2018, and will provide 7.2 million gallons of water per day to benefit the 2.6 million residents in the area who rely on the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System, through 16 new recovery wells, pumps, stations and pipelines constructed in the peninsula, noted the release.
Read the entire release here.
