Revegetation Work to begin at New Crystal Springs Bypass Tunnel site in San Mateo

Beginning on or around Thursday, December 1st, work crews will begin weeding and grading the South Shaft site area off of Polhemus Road in San Mateo.

The work is part of the final revegetation/relandscaping work for the New Crystal Springs Bypass Tunnel project, which was completed this past summer.

During the week of December 5th, crews will spray a hydroseed mixture on the site. Hydroseed is a mixture of seeds and nutrients, often green or blue in color (see example in photo) that will germinate into grasses this winter and spring.

Some equipment, including work trucks, grading machinery and a water truck, will be on site for the next several weeks.

Crews have been asked to maintain dust control and water down the site often. They have also been asked to minimize noise and keep the roadway near the entrance clean and free of mud and debris.

Work hours will be Monday - Friday from 7am to 5pm with some Saturday work possible beginning at 9am.

Please contact Amy Sinclair at 415-551-4659 or asinclair@sfwater.org with any concerns or questions. After hours and weekends, please call 866-973-1476.

Happy Holidays

The staff of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission would like to wish you and your families a very Happy Thanksgiving.

We hope you enjoy our great Hetch Hetchy tap water while you celebrate this week.

"Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct: Big Fixes for Big Quakes" airing Tonight and 11/9 on KQED Quest

“Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct: Big Fixes for Big Quakes” will air tonight, Friday, November 4th on KQED Channel 9 on “This Week in Northern California” at 7:30PM.

The longer version will air on Channel 9 this upcoming Wednesday, November 9th at 7:30PM.

The KQED Quest documentary features the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission's (SFPUC) Water System Improvement Program to rebuild and seismically update the Hetch Hetchy Water System.

Harry Tracy Water Treatment Plant: Construction Update

Work to excavate the site of our new 11 million gallon Treated Water Reservoir continues at our Harry Tracy Water Treatment Plant in Millbrae.  This reservoir, which holds drinking water before it enters the distribution system, is being relocated within the plant to a more seismically stable area.

Additional truck traffic along Crystal Springs Road will continue, as materials are delivered and the excavated soil is removed.

The plant must maintain water treatment operations 24 hours a day, 7 days a week throughout the 4 years of construction. Coordinating the continued operation of the plant while reconfiguring and relocating systems is a complicated challenge for our contractors and operations staff!

We are making every effort to minimize construction impacts to your neighborhood. Please let us know your concerns and comments by contacting us at (866) 973-1476…or by attending our Open House on November 14^th.

Informational Open House on construction at our Harry Tracy Water Treatment Plant

Date: Monday, November 14th

Time: 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Location: San Bruno Recreation Center

Community Room, 251 City Park Way

Directions: The San Bruno Recreation Center is located inside San Bruno City Park near the intersection of Crystal Springs Rd. and Oak Ave.

Our project team will be on-hand to answer any questions you have about the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System, current system-wide upgrades, as well as construction project updates. This is an informal drop-in event – stop by any time! 

Landscaping Work to Begin Soon at New Crystal Springs Bypass Tunnel South Shaft in San Mateo

In the next few weeks, crews will return to the South Shaft site of the New Crystal Springs Bypass Tunnel project near Polhemus Road in San Mateo to begin adding a native seedmix to the meadow.

The process, called hydroseeding, involves spraying a mixture of seeds, water and nutrients onto an area of dirt. In some cases, the mixture may be a bright green or blue color.

Watch this blog for more details and a timeframe for the process.

Sawyer Camp Trail 2-day Closure -- November 2nd and 3rd

Sawyer Camp Trail will be closed for two days on November 2^nd and 3^rd (Wednesday and Thursday).

During the closure, our project team will deliver additional rock to our new access road segments, and continue seismic upgrades on our Crystal Springs/San Andreas Pipeline. Water in this pipeline has been “turned off” for the months of October and November to facilitate this work.

Notice the unusual green color on some slopes along the trail? This is a temporary, first step of re-vegetation. This bright green soil stabilizer will turn brown and blend in with the surrounding landscape as it dries. During next year’s dry season, we’ll be re-planting native plants in these locations.

One more thing of interest to trail users: the Lower Crystal Springs Dam concrete pours will continue through mid-November. The biggest day will be on Tuesday, November 1^st when approximately 65 trucks will deliver cement using Skyline Blvd., Crystal Springs Road and Polhemus Road. Much smaller pours (just a few trucks) are expected on October 28^th (Friday) and October 31^st (Monday).

Construction of a larger stilling basin, Lower Crystal Springs Dam.

Please do not hesitate to call with your questions or concerns, 24 hours a day (866) 973-1476.

Sawyer Camp Trail Open

The entire Sawyer Camp Trail is now open! You will see some construction vehicles driving on the trail daily for the next several weeks. The largest truck is expected to be a water truck, necessary to control dust at the pipeline work locations next to the trail.

                                                                    

Additional short trail closures are expected this fall. Please subscribe to http://sawyercamptrail.blogspot.com/ to get automatic email updates!

Neighbors have asked us about the night work currently taking place on Highway 280 above the Lower Crystal Springs Dam. This is a Caltrans project to improve drainage on the freeway. Caltrans expects the work to be completed by November 15^th, prior to the official start of the rainy season.

Please call us 24 hours a day with any questions or concerns at (866) 973-1476.