Safeguarding Our Pipeline Right of Way

If you live along or near the SFPUC Right of Way (ROW), you may have a neighbor question or concern, as neighbors anywhere sometimes do. The ROW harbors the pipelines just underground that convey drinking water to our customers, and ROW Manager Emily Read is, in effect, our property manager for the vital transmission corridor.  

Any given work day she’ll be dealing with facility security, maintenance issues, emergency repairs, enforcement of our  policies, and collaboration with the many ROW neighbors whose cooperation we need to keep our water supply reliable.  

    

One part of the job is vegetation management to protect both water supply and adjoining private property. Annual mowing of spring grasses gets going as soon as the ground is dry. In spots where the slopes are too steep for the equipment, Emily commissions goats to eat away the overgrowth. 

She and her team are also routinely on the lookout for illegal dumping, garden extensions, structures intruding from neighbors’ backyards onto the ROW, and other unpermitted uses.The usual first approach to resolving potential conflict is to engage neighbors early. They'll talk about  our ROW policies, and  how a trivial-seeming infringement can hinder our access for essential pipeline maintenance or emergency response to breaks—and even jeopardize the lines themselves.

 “It can be hard for people to have land just beyond their backyards that looks unoccupied but that they’re not allowed to use,” she says. “But, the fact is, it’s not vacant space. It’s home for a water system serving more than 2.7 million people, including them. So we do our best to safeguard our water supply and be a good neighbor. 

"In the end, most people are fine with the restrictions when they realize the importance of a clear, unobstructed pipeline ROW.“

It's the kind of mutual understanding that can make a ROW Manager’s day.