San Francisco built Pulgas Water Temple as a monument to the engineering marvel that brought Hetch Hetchy water more than 160 miles across California from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the Bay Area. The Hetch Hetchy Project had taken 24 years to build through the Great Depression at a cost of $102 million.
On October 28, 1934, the roar of Hetch Hetchy mountain water greeted everyone gathered at Pulgas Water Temple to celebrate its arrival. With vivid memories of the fire that had raged unchecked after the Great Earthquake of 1906, the city rejoiced in its new secure, plentiful supply of high quality drinking water. The frieze above the columns expresses the city’s joyful relief: “I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people.”
Pulgas Water Temple was designed in the Beaux Arts style by William Merchant, a San Francisco architect trained by Bernard Maybeck. Merchant’s design featured fluted columns and Corinthian capitals to reflect the architecture of ancient Greeks and Romans, whose engineering methods were used to build the new water system. Artist and master stone carver Albert Bernasconi brought Merchant’s drawings to life.
Preserving Precious Natural Resources
Pulgas Water Temple sits within the Peninsula Watershed, containing 23,000 acres of coniferous forests, California coastal scrub and rare serpentine grasslands. The watershed is a Fish and Game Refuge and International Biosphere Reserve, home to the highest concentration of rare and endangered species in the Bay Area. The lakes in the watershed are drinking water reservoirs for San Francisco and its Peninsula water customers.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) is committed to protecting the valuable water supplies and natural resources throughout the watershed. Together with its partners in the environmental and recreational community, and with the help of knowledgeable volunteers, the SFPUC recently opened a portion of the trail along the ridgeline of its pristine watershed to guided public access.
Enjoying the Site
Pulgas Water Temple is located about one-half mile south of the Cañada Road trailhead. To get there, take Interstate 280 to the Edgewood Road exit. Proceed west on Edgewood Road to Cañada Road, then north on Cañada Road approximately two miles to the temple.
Hours
Pulgas Water Temple and its parking lot are open to the public on weekdays, Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
The parking lot is closed on weekends, except for permitted events. To obtain a permit for your wedding or group event, call the SFPUC at 650-872-5900.
Pulgas Water Temple will be closed to public access in 2011 due to SFPUC construction activities. All public access, including wedding ceremonies will not be allowed during 2011.
Cañada Road is closed to car traffic every Sunday, from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM from November to March, and from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM from April to October, for the enjoyment of hikers and bicyclists. For details on Bicycle Sunday closures call San Mateo County Parks Department at 650-363-4020.
Nearby Open Space Attractions
The newly-opened portion of the SFPUC Peninsula Watershed’s Fifield-Cahill Ridge Trail, accessible through guided tours, starts at Skyline Quarry on Highway 92 and extends northward to the watershed boundary at the Portola Ridge Gate, where it connects with the Golden Gate National Recreation Area trail system and the Sweeney Ridge section of the Bay Area Ridge Trail. For tour reservations, see trail.sfwater.org or call 650-652-3203.
The historic Sawyer Camp Trail-once a segment of the main route between San Francisco and Half Moon Bay-winds approximately six miles through SFPUC Watershed land from Crystal Springs Reservoir to San Andreas Lake.
