Where the Wild Things Are

“And the wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws.”
― Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are

We don’t have any creatures like that at the New Irvington Tunnel… unless you’re talking about this 55-ton guy:

Our wild things are a bit friendlier and we take great care to keep them safe. Measures like wildlife exclusion fencing and regular monitoring are among the numerous measures to ensure that environmental impacts are kept to a minimum. Project Biologist and Wildlife Photographer Michael Bumgardner introduces us to some of creatures we protect during construction.

The Mourning Dove is one the most abundant and widespread of all North American birds.

The Mule Deer is indigenous to western North America and known for its large mule-life ears.

The Red-winged Blackbird is found in North and much of Central America. Males are all black with a red shoulder and yellow wing bar. Females are a nondescript brown.

Wild Turkeys are native to North America and are omnivorous, foraging on the ground or climbing shrubs and small trees to feed.

The Yellow-billed Magpie is a large bird in the crow family found only in California.

To view these and more wildlife and nature photos by Mike Bumgardner, visit www.bumgardnerphotography.com

Be Prepared!

In the event of an earthquake, will you have enough drinking water?
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) operates the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System, which provides high-quality drinking water to 2.6 million residents and businesses across four Bay Area counties. The SFPUC is making the investment to seismically upgrade regional water facilities, tunnels, and pipelines. However, it is important for you to know that smaller pipelines leading to your home might be damaged in an earthquake. As a result, water from your tap may be unavailable for up to 72 hours or longer.

To prepare for an emergency:

Keep a 3-day water supply just in case
• Each family member needs 1 gallon per day
• Store tap water in food-grade plastic containers; replace every 6 months
• Store bottled water in the original sealed containers; replace according to expiration date.


If your supply runs out, you can treat your water!
• Boil it for 3 minutes, or disinfect it by adding regular household bleach
• Add 8 drops of bleach per gallon of water
• Shake or stir then let it stand for 30 minutes


For more tips, view our emergency preparedness website at http://sfwater.org/beprepared.

NIT: A Photo Update

As construction of the New Irvington Tunnel moves forward, here is a quick peek into some of the work taking place to provide a seismically safe water connection 2.6 million people. Photographs by Katherine Du Tiel and Robin Scheswohl © San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

Workers install 96-inch sections that connect the
New Irvington Tunnel to the Bay Division Pipelines.

Old sections of the Bay Division Pipeline must be torn out to make way for new sections.

A worker welds sections of the new pipeline together.

Modifications are made to the tunnel’s rail and muck system. Materials and workers travel into the tunnel, and soils and equipment come out of the tunnel on a series of special rail cars.

The men and women of the New Irvington Tunnel: Working hard to ensure safety of the water supply for 2.6 million people.

Calaveras Road Closure: April 9, 2012 thru June 8, 2012

Calaveras Road, in unincorporated county areas, will be CLOSED to vehicle, pedestrian, and bicycle traffic between Geary Road to the Alameda / Santa Clara County boundary beginning April 9, 2012 through June 8, 2012, Monday through Friday.

Large trucks will be hauling materials on Calaveras Road, as part of the Calaveras Dam Replacement Project. It is not safe for these large vehicles to share these narrow portions of the road with private vehicles and bicycles.

Calaveras Road will be open on weekends, 6:00 a.m. Saturdays through midnight on Sundays. The road will be swept prior to each opening. Emergency vehicles would have access to the road at all times. Access to the Sunol Ohlone Wilderness will remain open from the north at all times. From both the north and south on weekends. Access to Ed Levin County Park and will remain open at all times.

For More Information: 24 hour-Answer Line 866-973-1476 or email: mle@sfwater.org

Download the 2012 New Irvington Tunnel Fact Sheet

We have updated our project fact sheet as we move into Year 2 of the New Irvington Tunnel Project. The fact sheet highlights our progress during the first year of construction and provides an overview of our work in 2012.


Click here to download the 2012 New Irvington Tunnel Fact Sheet!

Boom Goes the Dynamite!

Well, technically the “Boom” is not as loud as one would imagine. The Calaveras Dam Replacement Project has begun controlled detonation activity to produce the hard rock required for construction of the dam. Due to the existing conditions of the rock, we must use controlled detonation to break down the surface. Prior to each blast, numerous steps are taken for safety and extensive watering of the blast area is done to ensure dust emissions are kept to a minimum. Pre-construction surveys are also performed prior to each blast for removal of any special species.

For the first initial blast, it took four days to drill 76 holes to place the explosives. Over 10 tons of explosives were used, blasting a total of 16,000 cubic yards of material, to be used for dam construction.

Controlled detonations only occur at the Calaveras Dam project site within SFPUC property. Detonations will continue intermittently through the end of the project in early 2015, only during daytime hours, Monday through Friday.

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

Spring Forward, Fall Back

With Daylight Savings around the corner don’t forget to change your clocks before you go to sleep on Saturday March 10. The phrase “Spring forward, fall back” is good way to remember which way to set the time.


Miners at the New Irvington Tunnel Project have taken this phrase to heart- at least the Spring forward part. As shown in the above chart, work crews broke or tied the previous daily project record of tunneling, 70 feet, with 70, 87 and 98 foot days! Miners have been averaging 45 feet of excavation per day but ideal ground conditions allowed crews to advance rapidly. All told 378 feet was excavated for the week recently also shattering the previous weekly record of 253 feet.

Some say the extra sunlight gained from Daylight Savings increases worker production. Underground, the sun isn’t a factor but that doesn’t mean the miners can’t join in on the fun!