San Francisco Water Department
Encyclopedia
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
. The San Francisco Water Department privately holds substantial amounts of undeveloped land in many parts of the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
.
Since the mid-19th century much of the Alameda County watershed
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
was owned by a private enterprise, the Spring Valley Water Company (SVWC), which held a monopoly on water service to San Francisco.
In 1906, William Bowers Bourn II
William Bowers Bourn II
William Bowers Bourn II was an American entrepreneur and builder of Filoli the country estate in San Mateo County, California.-Biography:...
, a major stockholder in the SVWC, and owner of the giant Empire gold mine
Empire Mine State Historic Park
Empire Mine State Historic Park is a state-protected mine and park in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Grass Valley, California. The Empire Mine is on the National Register of Historic Places and a federal Historic District. Since 1975, California State Parks has administered and maintained the mine...
, hired Willis Polk
Willis Polk
Willis Jefferson Polk was an American architect best known for his work in San Francisco, California.-Life:He was born in Jacksonville, Illinois and was related to United States President James Polk....
to design a "water temple" atop the spot where three subterranean water mains converge, from the Arroyo de la Laguna and Alameda Creek
Alameda Creek
Alameda Creek is a large perennial stream in the San Francisco Bay Area. The creek runs for from a lake northeast of Packard Ridge to the eastern shore San Francisco Bay by way of Niles Canyon and a flood control channel.-History:...
s, the Sunol infiltration galleries
Infiltration gallery
An infiltration gallery is a structure including perforated conduits in gravel to expedite transfer of water to or from a soil aquifer.-Storm water disposal:...
, and a 30 inch pipeline from the artesian well field of Pleasanton
Pleasanton, California
Pleasanton is a city in Alameda County, California, incorporated in 1894. It is a suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area located about east of Oakland, and west of Livermore. The population was 70,285 at the 2010 census. In 2005 and 2007, Pleasanton was ranked the wealthiest middle-sized city in...
.
Municipal efforts to buy out the SVWC had been a source of constant controversy from as early as 1873, when the first attempt to purchase it was turned down by San Francisco voters because the price was too high. Other sources claim that as one born into wealth and classically educated, Bourn was partially motivated by a sense of civic responsibility.
Prior to construction of the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct
Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct
The Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct is a conveyance of Tuolumne River water runoff from federal lands in Yosemite National Park to San Francisco and its client municipalities in the greater San Francisco Bay Area...
, half of San Francisco's water supply, approximately 6 million gallons per day passed through the Sunol temple. The SVWC, including the temple, was purchased by the city of San Francisco in 1930 for US$40 million.
See also
- Hetch Hetchy ReservoirHetch Hetchy ReservoirHetch Hetchy Reservoir is a reservoir in Yosemite National Park, about northeast from the city of Merced, California. The reservoir has a capacity of and is formed by the concrete gravity O'Shaughnessy Dam in Hetch Hetchy Valley on the Tuolumne River...
- Sunol Water TempleSunol Water TempleThe Sunol Water Temple is located at 505 Paloma Way in Sunol, California. Designed by Willis Polk, the 59 foot high classical pavilion is made up of twelve concrete Corinthian columns and a concrete ring girder that supports the conical wood and tile roof...
- Pulgas Water TemplePulgas Water TempleThe Pulgas Water Temple is a stone structure in Woodside, California, USA, designed by architect William G. Merchant. It was erected by the San Francisco Water Department to commemorate the 1934 completion of the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct and is located at the aqueduct's terminus...
- Crystal Springs Park, CaliforniaCrystal Springs Park, CaliforniaCrystal Springs is a county park located between San Bruno to the north and Woodside to the south. The park comprises two main trails, Sawyer Camp Trail in the southern end and San Andreas trail in the northern section, which run along the eastern shore of San Andreas Lake in San Mateo...