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The rescue of a city lake

Wednesday, March 20, 2002
©2002 San Francisco Chronicle

ONE OF California's nastiest water wars just ended. It wasn't a farm- country dam or redwood-lined stream at issue. Instead, it was the fate of shrinking, murky Lake Merced in San Francisco.

Once a popular boating and fishing spot, the natural lake has dropped nearly 10 feet in recent years, leaving it weed-choked and prone to saltwater intrusion from nearby Ocean Beach. The culprits were wells, construction that cut off tributary springs and rival water users.

After nearly two decades of inaction, a deal to replenish the lake, signed last week, has a chance to work. All parties will give ground for the sake of the lake's health.

Three private golf courses will switch from wells to recycled water. Their bills may jump three-fold under the 50-year pact.

Daly City, which taps the watery soil underlying the Lake Merced region for drinking water, will reduce ground pumping and replace the water from San Francisco's Sierra aqueduct system. Daly City will build a $6 million recycling plant with $1 million coming from San Francisco, which will divert rainy day runoff into the lake.

Don't hold your breath waiting for leaping trout on shimmering blue water. It will take time to restore the lake -- up to 15 years by some estimates. But this long wait beats the not-my-fault indifference that typified the debate for years.

Fresh developments changed this stale situation. San Francisco Supervisor Tony Hall pushed all parties back to the table. The conservation group California Trout threatened to bring in state water authorities unless the locals worked it out. New leadership at the golf courses wanted an end to squabbles and legal risks. Daly City and San Francisco cut a deal on water rates.

It's a settlement that bears monitoring. But sharing the burdens of reviving the lake promises a payoff that past battles never offered.