Celebrating Sunol Valley History

This past weekend, the East Bay Regional Park District’s Sunol Pioneer Folk Festival hosted music, square dancing, horse rides, vintage arts and crafts, and us!

SFPUC staff really enjoyed sharing historic photos of the water system in the valley with attendees, many of whom already knew a great deal about our current efforts to upgrade this system for future generations.

We also tested attendees’ knowledge of local water system history. Here is a sampling of questions to your own knowledge!

1. In 1898, Spring Valley Water Company, the predecessor of the SFPUC, began drilling wells under what nearby East Bay Valley?

Answer: Livermore Valley. 100 wells, the first of which was drilled in 1898, drew water that was transmitted to Sunol via a pipe installed in 1909. The SFPUC stopped using the well field in 1949 to replenish the groundwater basin for the overlaying landowners. The water is still used by the City of Pleasanton and Zone 7.

2. We are busy constructing a replacement dam to the existing Calaveras Dam as we speak. True or False: the replacement dam is the THIRD dam to be constructed in this location.

Answer: True. The original dam, started in 1913, was constructed using a technology that had never been used on this sized dam before. The dam collapsed while the reservoir was being refilled in 1918. Spring Valley Water Company had to rebuild it using a different method. They left portions of the original foundation in the dam, however, which is why we have to rebuild it completely.

3. The existing Irvington Tunnel began construction 1928 and now provides water to 2.6 million Bay Area residents.  What yummy Bay Area tradition also began in 1928? 

Answer:  IT’S-IT ice cream treats.  Created by George Whitney it was sold exclusively at San Francisco’s Playland-at-the-Beach for over four decades!  So when the miners at the existing Irvington Tunnel needed a day at the beach they probably had an IT’S-IT.

Attendees check out historic artifacts excavated at the
Calaveras Dam Replacement Project this past year

Historic Photo of the Sunol Valley Pump Station located on Calaveras Road

November 3, 1966. Seismic retrofits of the pump station were recently completed.

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

 

Sunol Temple Centennial

Members of the Sunol community recently joined the SFPUC to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Sunol Water Temple near the SFPUC Sunol headquarters in the East Bay.

The 1910 temple, designed by noted architect Willis Polk, was built as a permanent tribute to the convergence of three sources of water serving San Francisco at the time—Alameda Creek, its tributary the Arroyo de La Laguna, and the Pleasanton Well Fields.

SFPUC General Manager Ed Harrington was Master of Ceremonies, and welcomed the crowd of several hundred people. Commission President F.X. Crowley talked on the significance of today’s upgrades to the region’s water facilities under the Water System Improvement Program. He also announced plans to upgrade the Sunol firefighting system, and reiterated the SFPUC’s dedication to the restoration of Alameda Creek. “Today,” he concluded, “we are celebrating a monument to the most precious of resources—our water”

Speakers representing the Sunol community included Alameda County District 2 Supervisor Gail Steele and long-time civic leader Pat Stillman. Stillman hailed the multi-year partnership between community and SFPUC that had produced the day’s celebration, and the temple’s restoration 10 years before. “My hope is to celebrate the water temple not only today, but tomorrow, and for many years to come,” she said. “Long live the water temple!”

Commission Vice President Francesca Vietor thanked the Sunol Planning Committee for its role in the successful day. A new plaque commemorates the temple’s centennial, and new interpretive panels chart Sunol water system history, from its 19th-century beginnings through today.

The current Sunol Valley water system is a critical link between the Sierra/Central Valley portion of today’s 167-mile Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System and the Bay Area’s transmission lines serving more than 2.5 million people. The SFPUC is upgrading all Sunol Region delivery and treatment facilities as part of the SFPUC’s comprehensive $4.6 billion Water System Improvement Program to repair, replace, and seismically upgrade the aging system, which crosses three major and active earthquake faults.