SFPUC Alameda Creek Recapture Project

SFPUC Alameda Creek Recapture Project

The ACRP is a water supply project that is part of system-side improvements to the SFPUC regional water system. Under the ACRP, the SFPUC would construct pumping and associated facilities in and around Pit F2, an existing quarry pit formerly used by quarry operators located adjacent to Alameda Creek and about six miles downstream of Calaveras Reservoir. The facilities to be constructed would include four turbine pumps on floating barges and various pipelines, valves, and electrical equipment—all located on previously disturbed land. The SFPUC would not construct any facilities within the Alameda Creek stream channel. The project would pump water that has collected in Pit F2 and convey it to existing SFPUC facilities in the Sunol Valley for treatment and distribution to its customers in the Bay Area. Pit F2 passively collects water originating upstream from Alameda Creek through natural subsurface percolation and seepage, so SFPUC would only recover water that passively percolates or seeps into Pit F2. The project would not actively divert water from the creek. Under the ACRP, the amount of water the SFPUC would pump or “recapture” from Pit F2 would be limited to the portion of the bypassed and released water that the SFPUC otherwise would have stored in Calaveras Reservoir but for implementation of the instream flow schedules established under federal and state permit requirements for the operation of the newly reconstructed Calaveras Dam. The project would maintaining the historical annual transfers from the Alameda Watershed system to the SFPUC regional water system in accordance with the City and County of San Francisco’s existing water rights. The SFPUC would operate the ACRP in order to avoid effects on Alameda Creek streamflow during the steelhead migration season by maintaining the water elevation in Pit F2 within a defined range and by restricting the timing of pumping activities. Nearly all pumping for the recapture operations would occur between July 1 and November 30 of each year, outside of the migration period for steelhead in Alameda Creek. From December 1 to April 30 of each year, no pumping from Pit F2 for recapture operations would occur, with only an exception for safety purposes if there is a danger of the pit spilling and flooding. The SFPUC would pump from May 1 to June 30 only if the conditions are such that pumping would not affect streamflow in Alameda Creek. Project operations would also include monitoring and reporting protocols. Monitoring requirements would include daily pit levels, daily pumping volumes, daily volumes of releases at Calaveras Dam, and daily volumes of bypasses at the Alameda Creek Diversion Dam. Reporting requirements would include routine sharing of data with stakeholders and interested parties and annual presentation and reporting to the Alameda Creek Fisheries Restoration Workgroup.

Alameda