SF Wants Bay Area Aquifer Reserves

San Fransico wants to build up a water reserves in a San Mateo county acquifer - enough reserves to last much of the Bay Area seven and a half years.

Climate change has reduced the Sierra snowpack that feeds the city's main supply source, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, and made supplies increasingly uncertain. To prepare for future droughts, SF has turned to the acquifer plan.

But San Mateo cities like Daly City and Millbrae currently rely on the acquifer for their water. San Francisco is negotiating a proposal with the cities under which they would reduce their pumping in exchange for surplus Hetch Hetchy water.