Photo Friday - Morning Light

Happy Photo Friday

It's been a while since we posted any photos from Pat, one of our Watershed Keepers who helps look after our Alameda Watershed lands.

Recently Pat found himself at San Antonio Reservoir at sunrise and shared the moment with all of us. 

Have a great weekend, and see you around the Valley!

Bald Eagle Photo Friday at San Antonio Reservoir

Happy Photo Friday!

This week’s pick comes courtesy of Kevin and Pat from our Natural Resources and Lands Management staff.

We have spent a lot of time writing about the nesting pairs of bald eagles who reside at Calaveras Reservoir and the pair near our restoration sites near San Antonio Reservoir in the SFPUC-owned Alameda Creek Watershed. But we’d like to introduce you to a more recent arrival to the San Antonio Reservoir area.   

This pair has made its home closer to our Turner Dam at San Antonio Reservoir.  Since it is the time of year when our pairs are on their nests taking care of chicks, our staff spotted two eaglets in their nest.

Once bald eagles find a nesting location they like, they tend to stay in the area. Which is why these bald eagles and our Natural Resources and Lands Management staff have gotten to know one another.  Our staff monitors the well being of these birds on a weekly basis. They all have been trained on bald eagle monitoring and behavior. Knowing these particular birds and bald eagle behavior enables our Natural Resources staff to know quickly if the birds seem ‘off’ because they have been disturbed by something.  

These little ones will fledge (develop the ability to fly) anywhere from 8 to 14 weeks of age. For now, they’re being fed a consistent diet of fish found in the reservoirs and creeks within the Alameda Watershed.

Healthy watersheds provide high quality water and also provide a safe haven for many amazing plants and animals. We consider it an honor and a privilege to look after these watershed lands, and all who live there, too.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Spring at San Antonio Reservoir

Happy Photo Friday!

Anybody passing through the Sunol Valley these days can't help but notice that spring has sprung.  The hillsides are vibrant green. Wildflowers are starting to make their colorful appearance. 

And SFPUC Watershed Keeper Pat is out on the watershed, as usual. Today's Photo Friday is courtesy of Pat, who shared this early morning picture from San Antonio Reservoir.

Happy Spring, Everyone!

Photo Friday Fall Back

It is that wonderful weekend of the year when we gain an extra hour of sleep as daylight saving time ends. 


Thinking about those lighter mornings, here's a photo of dawn at San Antonio Reservoir in our Alameda Creek Watershed. 

See you around the Valley! And don't forget to set your clocks back one hour at 2:00 a.m. this Sunday!

Photo Friday - Tule Elk

Tule elk are a subspecies of elk that are native to only California. Once abundant, they were hunted to near extinction after the Gold Rush.  A small handful of elk were discovered on a private ranch in San Joaquin County in the mid 1870’s and protected by the rancher.

Flash forward, tule elk were reintroduced to the area in Santa Clara County in 1978. The herd split up, and some of them took up residence near our San Antonio Reservoir.  

The ancestors of that herd are still there today, and apparently making themselves available for photo ops by watershed keeper Pat Jones while on his rounds.

Pat spied this gentleman below Turner Dam last weekend.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Daylight Savings: San Antonio Reservoir at Dawn

Losing that hour of sleep for daylight savings last weekend was brutal.

SFPUC Watershed Keeper Pat Jones reminded us today of one small side benefit: he is out on his rounds before the sun comes up.

He shared this gorgeous photo of the SFPUC's San Antonio Reservoir in the Alameda Creek Watershed at dawn. 









San Antonio, like all of our reservoirs, is a protected, managed watershed that supports many rare and endangered plants and animals. No humans, though, with the notable exception of Pat.

See you around Sunol Valley!

Sunol Valley: Getting Prepared

This week we acknowledge the 25^th Anniversary of the Loma Prieta Earthquake. On October 17, 1989 at 5:04 p.m, the magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake, also known as the “World Series Quake,” lasted 15 seconds causing an estimated $6-10 billion in property loss in the Bay Area. The anniversary is a reminder to all of us to make efforts to be prepared for the next major earthquake.

Here’s a quick snapshot of what’s been done in the Sunol Valley to better prepare us:

San Antonio Pump Station – Completed

The San Antonio Pump Station is one of the key facilities in the Sunol Valley which pumps Hetch Hetchy water through a transmission pipeline to the San Antonio Reservoir to the Sunol Valley Water Treatment Plant. It serves as a critical seismic upgrade project which provides a reliable water supply to our Bay Area customers after a major earthquake.

Sunol Valley Water Treatment Plant – Completed
If the Hetch Hetchy water supplies become unavailable for any reason, this plant enables us to supply the minimum demand of water to our customers, especially those in the East Bay and South Bay. The plant can now provide 160 million gallons of water per day for up to two months in case of an emergency. Previously, that level of service would run out after only a matter of days.

Alameda Siphon No. 4 – Completed
This project will ensure the water system performs properly, and water can be delivered to customers after an earthquake. The Alameda Siphon No. 4 Project extends approximately 3,000 feet from the Alameda East Portal across both the Calaveras Fault and Alameda Creek to the Alameda West Portal. It consists of a seismically-designed thicker-walled pipe in the fault rupture zone, and a tunnel crossing under Alameda Creek. 

Series #2 Do you Know Your Tap Water? – Local Waters

Second in our series of ‘Do you know your tap water’, begs the question, OK, 85% from Hetch Hetchy, straight through the Sunol Valley to our customers… but what about the rest?

 
The rest of the water supply comes from local reservoirs. In the Sunol Valley that includes two: Calaveras and San Antonio Reservoirs. Calaveras, when full, is our system’s second largest drinking water reservoir, second only to Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. It also stores only local watershed waters from the Arroyo Hondo and Alameda Creek. San Antonio Reservoir, on the other hand, stores water from San Antonio Creek, and we can also store Hetch Hetchy water there as well.
 

Calaveras Reservoir, shown here prior to the start of construction of the Replacement Calaveras Dam, stores local water only.

 San Antonio Reservoir Stores both Local Watershed Waters and Hetch Hetch Hetchy Water

We must filter the water from these local reservoirs at our Sunol Valley Water Treatment Plant before we send it to our customers.

Some facts about local dams and reservoirs that you may not know:

• The dam at San Antonio Reservoir is called Turner Dam, after former SFPUC General Manager, James H. Turner.

Turner Dam

• When originally constructed in 1925, Calaveras Dam was the largest earth-fill dam in the world.

Existing Calaveras Dam. The New dam is being constructed directly downstream of the existing one. The site looks very different today!

 

• Both reservoirs support habitat for many rare and endangered species. Each reservoir also has a nesting pair of bald eagles. Learn more about them here.

Catch up on the Do you know your Tap Water series.

See you around Sunol Valley!



Our Resident Bald Eagles

The land that we own in the Southern Alameda Creek Watershed has been protected for over a century.  By controlling the activities on our watershed lands, we ensure top water quality for our customers and preserve prime habitat for rare and endangered species. The 36,000 acres the SFPUC owns have become an oasis.

These lands are home to all sorts of plants, insects, and critters, including the Most Beautiful Jewel Flower, Callippe Silverspot Butterfly, California Tiger Salamander, California Red-Legged Frog, Alameda Whipsnake, Golden Eagles, and not one, but two nesting pairs of Bald Eagles.

Interestingly, both eagle pairs nest not far from our ongoing construction projects at Calaveras Dam and at the habitat restoration project at San Antonio Reservoir.

Our environmental teams monitor the eagles’ success annually and establish a wide “No Disturbance” boundary around the eagle nests, in coordination with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and California Department of Fish and Wildlife, to avoid aggravating nesting bald eagles. During nesting season, teams closely monitor the eagles’ activity around both reservoirs to ensure our construction work does not affect nesting birds. We go to great lengths to ensure that these special animals continue to thrive.

 

We are proud to announce that the eaglets (two at Calaveras and two at San Antonio) of both eagle pairs are very close to fledging!  The young eagles will continue to receive care from the parents for a while before exploring new territories on their own.  The parents – soon to be “empty nesters”  – will likely stay in the neighborhood to take advantage of the plentiful food source and relative isolation and protection the southern Alameda Creek watershed provides.

Calaveras Reservoir Bald Eagles
Photo permission courtesy of Tam Phan

Calaveras Reservoir Eaglet takes flight
Photo courtesy of Bill Stagnaro, Environmental Inspector

Environmental Compliance Manager Cullen Wilkerson and Specialty Environmental  Monitor Aaron Sunshine survey our Bald Eagles

Calaveras Reservoir Eaglet soars through Sunol Valley
Photo courtesy of Bill Stagnaro, Environmental Inspector

For more project information, contact us at our 24 hour answer line at (866) 973-1476 or email mle@sfwater.org