Hetch Hetchy Valley as it looked before it was dammed. ..Image via Wikipedia
A recent story on KALW talked about what it would take to remove the dam at Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park. Hetch Hetchy Valley is considered to be comparable to Yosemite Valley. An environmental group, Restore Hetch Hetchy, wants to drain the reservoir and return the valley to its natural state. KALW had is an interview that with Mike Marsall, the executive director of Restore Hetch Hetchy, on its show Crosscurrents. He talks about how how the reservoir could be removed from the Yosemite National Park and San Francisco could still get water from the Tuolumne River.
Read more at: Radical Idea: Restore the Hetch Hetchy | San Francisco Bay Area News – Crosscurrents from KALW.
Natural History Wanderings 
I visited Hetch Hetchy earlier this year and agree it is beautiful and think the dams construction was a mistake.After all the years it has been dammed up don’t you think a new ecosystem has formed. If you release the water from the damn it could damage the land that is now dryer. Also the damn itself has developed an ecosystem. Although the original damning was a poor decision, if there were to be restoration it would be very costly and I believe would have to happen at a very slow time gradually adding more and more water flowing otherwise the ecosystem would not have time to adapt. In the plan to restore the valley there is said replant native plants. There are many non-native plants that will continue to grow there for which they said prescribed burning would be used. Although I think it is possible I wonder if our resources should be used on a more pressing issue such as our water supply in general and keeping it clean.
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By: lewis162 on October 7, 2011
at 11:11 PM
Restoration would be fabulous!
I have heard that power from Hetch Hetchy is used by the San Francisco Muni system (so the city doesn’t pay market rates). Was this touched upon in the interview?
From Wikipedia:
‘Hydroelectricity is also produced by Kirkwood Powerhouse and Moccasin Powerhouse, which have a capacity of 118 and 100 megawatts, respectively.’
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By: Rusty Scalf on October 7, 2011
at 9:32 AM
Rusty,
Thanks for you comments. The interview talked about SF getting power but not the discount. It emphasized that it wasn’t all that much power in the grand scheme of things. If you want to read or listen to the interview the link for the interview at the bottom of the post above.
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By: Sandy Steinman on October 7, 2011
at 11:15 AM