The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission has embarked on a multi-billion dollar multi-year program to rebuild its water system. The Water System Improvement Program (WSIP) will deliver capital improvements that enhance the SFPUC’s ability to provide reliable, affordable, high quality water to its 28 wholesale customers in Alameda, Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, and to 800,000 retail customers in the City and County of San Francisco and the town of Sunol in an environmentally sustainable manner. The proposed WSIP is structured to cost-effectively meet water quality requirements, improve seismic and delivery reliability, and meet water supply reliability goals and objectives for 2030.

This document presents the revisions to the Water System Improvement Program (WSIP), formerly known as the Capital Improvement Program (CIP). It responds to the Wholesale Regional Water System Security and Reliability Act (AB 1823) reporting requirements on proposed changes to the program and identifies changes between the last SFPUC Commission adopted program of May 2002 and the current adopted program, citing both program level and project level refinements and changes that have occurred. In addition, a seismic risk analysis is also presented in the appendix, providing the results of a system seismic risk evaluation performed by a panel of seismic experts, on behalf of the SFPUC.

It should be noted herein that the efforts being made by the SFPUC to improve the reliability of the system after a seismic event relate - outside of the boundaries of the City and County of San Francisco - to the delivery of water only up to the turnouts to the 28 wholesale customers. The reliability of the water supply to individual retail customers (served by those wholesalers) after an event is very much dependent on the plans and upgrades being implemented by the various wholesalers. The SFPUC has no control over these wholesalers, but will ensure that they receive the design criteria upon which the WSIP program is based so that the wholesalers can instigate their own system hardening as appropriate.

The revised program description is being presented along with this report to the State of California as a formal amendment to the SFPUC adopted 2002 program originally presented as part of Assembly Bill 1823, Wholesale Regional Water System Security and Reliability Act. The SFPUC will also send this revised program description to the San Francisco Planning Department for continued preparation of the Programmatic Environmental Impact Report (PEIR).

As a result of an extensive program review, initiated in 2004 by the SFPUC General Manager, the revised program reduced the number of capital improvement projects from forty (40) in 2002, to thirty-nine (39) in 2005. Six (6) new projects were added to meet refined water quality, seismic reliability, and water supply/drought reliability goals. Seven (7) projects from the 2002 program were removed; some were reassigned to the SFPUC Repair & Replacement Program, while some were replaced by other projects within the current WSIP. Lastly, three (3) projects were reassigned within the program, listed currently as individual regional system projects. After this program review, it is expected that significantly fewer changes will be made in the future.