"Landmark" agreement introduced to save Lake Merced

Supervisor Tony Hall holds major press conference

By Millicent Mayfield
Special to the Independent

A breakthrough in the long struggle to save San Francisco's ailing Lake Merced surfaced Thursday when a "landmark" agreement was introduced to the public.

Supervisor Tony Hall, who inherited the Lake Merced problem when elected to represent District 7, called a press conference at City Hall to introduce the documents, which took six months to complete.  "After years of debate … Lake Merced's stakeholders have finally come to a mutually agreeable solution," Hall said.

Members of the two neighborhood groups that had fought on behalf of the lake since 1994 were impressed with the "political will" represented at the meeting.  Those in attendance included Mayor Willie Brown, Supervisor Hall, representatives from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, Daly City Council members, representatives of California Trout, an attorney for three local golf clubs, and neighborhood activists working to protect the lake, whose water levels have been steadily diminishing.  "We never had the management of the city stand up with a crew like this," said John Plummer, president of Friends of Lake Merced, Inc., the neighborhood group taking the lead on the conservation efforts.

The widely held reason for the lake's water depletion stems from excessive pumping demands on the underground aquifer, a natural storage basin that supplements the lake with groundwater.  Daly City draws approximately half of its drinking water from here, and golf courses and cemeteries use the fresh water to irrigate their lawns.

The aquifer flows under two counties, San Francisco and San Mateo. Because each county has different interests in Lake Merced, agreements on almost anything up to now have been next to impossible.  The new agreement aims to change all that by splitting the responsibilities, costs, and benefits among the numerous parties that hold interest in the lake.

A major part of the agreement is redefining the contract between Daly City and San Francisco and how the two cities use the aquifer.  Daly City has agreed to pump less water from the aquifer during wet seasons in order to refresh the supply there and make more water available during dry seasons.  It plans to accomplish this by purchasing water at a reduced rate from Hetch Hetchy, the San Francisco-owned water source in Yosemite National Park.

This would be an important coordination victory for San Francisco's PUC, which has been accused of lacking motivation in the past. The PUC's cooperation may give it the leverage necessary to prompt voter passage of a revenue-bond measure, possibly in March 2002, to retrofit the aging infrastructure of the Hetch Hetchy reservoir.

Storm-water pilot study

Daly City and San Francisco will also split the cost of a two-year pilot study to look into diverting storm water into the lake to replenish it.  Estimates for the study are expected not to exceed $700,000.  The diversion of storm water into the lake would mean that the Vista Grande Canal - the passageway normally used to divert storm water to the ocean - would stop overflowing. Such overflowing washed out John Muir Road in San Francisco and led to a lawsuit against Daly City in 1999.  San Francisco has agreed to drop the lawsuit if Daly City pays $75,000 toward reinforcement efforts on the road.

Golf courses reach an agreement

Also, three local golf courses have reached an agreement to buy recycled water from Daly City, which secured funds this summer to build a water-treatment plant.  The Olympic Club, the San Francisco Golf Club, and the Lake Merced Golf Club have agreed to sign contracts to do this with the North San Mateo County Sanitation District by December 17.

The notion of golf courses watering their lawns with fresh water is almost unheard of in major California cities that already have recycled-water programs in place.

Activists seek firm deadlines

Neighborhood activists say the agreement is an important step in the right direction, but they are concerned about the lack of deadlines that could ensure action in a timely manner.  "If we can have a deadline on signing a contract for recycled water, why not a deadline on the contract for conjunctive use [of the aquifer] between San Francisco and Daly City?" said Jerry Cadagan of the Committee to Save Lake Merced, another neighborhood organization.  Cadagan is also concerned that San Mateo County's permit-issuing process, which allows new wells to be dug near the aquifer, is not included in the agreement.

"No matter what they do to solve this imbalance in the aquifer, if San Mateo County has the ability and willingness to issue permits … then we still have a major problem," Cadagan said.  In the meantime, at least neighborhood activists can breathe a sigh of relief over this initial victory.

It may take 20 years or more before the new agreement affects the health of Lake Merced and restores its original condition. Unfortunately, some of the people trying to bring about change say they may not be around to enjoy the fruit of their labors.

"I won't live that long," Plummer said with a smile.