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San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Hydrological Conditions Report for September 2017 J

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San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Hydrological Conditions Report for September 2017 J San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Hydrological Conditions Report for September 2017 J. Chester, C. Graham, & N. Waelty, October 10, 2017 Cherry Lake this winter (above) and last week (below). Currently Cherry Lake storage is at 5,000 acre-feet, 2% of full capacity (270,000 acre-feet). The valves on the dam are being repaired and replaced, requiring temporary lowering of Cherry Lake. 1 Current Tuolumne System and Local Bay Area storage conditions are summarized in Table 1. Table 1 Current Storage As of October 1, 2017 Current Storage Maximum Storage Available Capacity Percentage Reservoir Millions of Millions of Millions of of Maximum Acre-Feet Acre-Feet Acre-Feet Gallons Gallons Gallons Storage Tuolumne System Hetch Hetchy1 328,536 360,360 31,824 91.2% Cherry2 5,609 268,810 263,201 2.1% 3 Eleanor 27,100 27,100 0 Full Water Bank 570,000 570,000 0 Full Tuolumne Storage 931,258 1,226,270 295,012 75.9% Local Bay Area Storage Calaveras4 27,854 9,076 96,824 31,550 68,970 22,474 28.8% San Antonio 39,160 12,760 50,496 16,454 11,335 3,694 77.6% Crystal Springs 52,531 17,117 58,377 19,022 5,846 1,905 90.0% San Andreas 17,014 5,544 18,996 6,190 1,982 646 89.6% Pilarcitos 1,889 616 2,995 976 1,105 360 63.1% Total Local Storage 138,448 45,113 227,688 74,192 89,239 29,078 60.8% Total System 1,069,706 1,453,958 384,251 73.6% 1 Maximum Hetch Hetchy Reservoir storage with drum gates activated. 2 Maximum Cherry Lake storage with flash-boards removed. 3 Maximum Lake Eleanor storage with flash-boards installed. 4 Available capacity does not take into account current DSOD storage restrictions. Figure 1: Monthly system storage for past 13 months in thousand acre-feet (TAF) 2 Hetch Hetchy System Precipitation Index 5/ Current Month: The September 2017 six-station precipitation index was 1.01 inches, or 143% of the average index for the month. Figure 2: Monthly distribution of the Hetch Hetchy six-station precipitation index as percent of the annual average precipitation. Cumulative Precipitation to Date: The accumulated six-station precipitation index for water year 2017 is 65.50 inches, which is 181% of the average annual water year total. Hetch Hetchy received 1.84 inches precipitation in September and a total of 64.57 inches for water year 2017. The cumulative Hetch Hetchy precipitation is shown in Figure 3 in red. Figure 3: Water year 2017 cumulative precipitation measured at Hetch Hetchy Reservoir through July 31st, 2017. Precipitation at the Hetch Hetchy gauge for wet, dry, median, and WY 2015-6 are included for comparison purposes. 5 The precipitation index is computed using six Sierra precipitation stations and is an indicator of the wetness of the basin for the water year to date. The index is computed as the average of the six stations and is expressed in inches and in percent. 3 Tuolumne Basin Unimpaired Inflow Unimpaired inflow to SFPUC reservoirs and the Tuolumne River at La Grange as of October 1, 2017 is summarized below in Table 2. Hetch Hetchy inflows, Cherry / Eleanor inflows, Flows at La Grange and Water Available to the City were all the highest in the historic record (1919 to present). September 2017 October 1, 2016 through September 30, 2017 *All flows are in acre feet Observed Percent Observed Percent Median6 Mean6 Median6 Mean6 Flow of Mean Flow of Mean Inflow to Hetch 14,384 3,070 4,821 298.3% 1,742,234 705,540 738,002 236.1% Hetchy Reservoir Inflow to Cherry Lake and Lake 7,365 803 1,905 387.7% 1,050,318 445,183 452,050 234.1% Eleanor Tuolumne River at 40,931 7,169 11,203 365.4% 4,860,730 1,679,935 1,819,150 267.2% La Grange Water Available to 0 0 883 0% 3,308,929 580,260 765,361 432.3% City 6 Hydrologic Record: 1919 – 2015 Hetch Hetchy System Operations Power draft and releases from Hetch Hetchy Reservoir during the month of September totaled 33,453 acre-feet to meet instream release requirements. Inflows to date are sufficient to keep Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Year Type A through January, 2018. Hetch Hetchy minimum instream release requirements for September 1st through 15th were 100 cfs and 80 cfs September 16th through 30th. October minimum instream release requirements are 60 cfs. 18,805 acre-feet of power draft and valve releases was made from Cherry Lake during the month of September to meet instream release requirements and facilitate lowering of Cherry Lake for valve work in the fall. No water was transferred via pumping from Lake Eleanor to Cherry Lake in September. The required minimum instream release from Cherry Lake is 5 cfs through June 30th, 2018. Required minimum release from Lake Eleanor is 10 cfs through November 1st. Lake Eleanor is currently full, with releases targeting minimum instream release requirements. Regional System Treatment Plant Production The Harry Tracy Water Treatment Plant average production rate for September was 21 MGD. The Sunol Valley Water Treatment Plant production for the month was 9 MGD. Local System Water Delivery The average September delivery rate was 240 MGD which is a 1% decrease below the September delivery rate of 243 MGD. 4 Local Precipitation Dry weather persisted through September with a brief monsoonal thunderstorm mid-month. The September rainfall summary is presented in Table 3. Table 3 Precipitation Totals at Three Local Area Reservoirs for September 2017 Percentage of Water Year Percentage of Month Total Reservoir Average for the to Date 7 Average for the (inches) Month (inches) Year-to-Date 7 Pilarcitos 0.14 27 % 62.44 159 % Lower Crystal Springs 0.04 12 % 39.23 145 % Calaveras 0.25 81 % 26.17 120 % 7 WY 2017: Oct. 2016 through Sep. 2017. Snowmelt and Water Supply Cherry Lake has been lowered to 5,000 acre-feet (5 TAF) for outlet valve repairs and replacement. This is the minimum target, and Cherry Lake is expected to slowly refill while repairs are being made. Butterfly valve repair will be completed in mid-November, allowing for lake refilling throughout the winter. The hollow jet replacement will be finished in late January, allowing for return to normal operations at Cherry Lake. Lake Eleanor is being kept at maximum storage. Water from Lake Eleanor will be transferred to Cherry Lake as soon as construction allows, which may be as early as December. While Cherry Lake storage is very low, the remaining upcountry water supply is in a very good position. Water Bank is full at 570 TAF, and Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is 91% full, at 328 TAF. In the past 35 years, Hetch Hetchy storage has been higher than the current storage only 4 times (1982, 1995, 1998 and 2011). Combined Water Bank and Hetch Hetchy storage is currently 898 TAF, more than double what we had on this date in 2015, when Water Bank was at 174 TAF and Hetchy was at 272 TAF (446 TAF total). The first snow of the fall hit the Tuolumne this past week. 5 inches of snow was observed at Horse Meadow. Figure 4: Calculated unimpaired flow at La Grange and the allocation of flows between the Districts and the City. 3,308,140 acre-feet of water was available to the City during water year 2017. 5 .
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