S.F. jilted by southern neighbors

Posh golf clubs, Daly City ignore deadline on Lake Merced negotiations

By Tiffany Maleshefski
December 18, 2001

The deadline for an agreement between San Francisco and Daly City that was considered crucial in the restoration effort for Lake Merced came and went yesterday, and supporters of the ailing lake say the failure to finalize the deal casts doubt on city officials' commitment to the project.

At last week’s meeting of the city's Public Utilities Commission, commissioners and residents expressed concern that no progress had been reported on negotiations involving the Olympic Golf Club, the San Francisco Golf Club, and the Lake Merced Golf Club for an agreement that would allow the golf courses to buy recycled water from Daly City — a move that would reduce their reliance on Lake Merced for water. The deadline set for agreement to be reached between the various parties was Monday.

Lake Merced has suffered from declining water levels over the decades. It is believed that the pumping of the aquifer beneath the lake by the golf courses and other parties has been a major factor in the lake's condition.
Commissioner Dennis Normandy strongly questioned whether the proposed agreement — which was praised by San Francisco officials, San Mateo County officials, and Lake Merced supporters when it was announced on October 25 — “was not worth the paper it's written on.”

The breakthrough agreement would establish new guidelines for Daly City, San Mateo County, and San Francisco in regard to their use of the aquifer. Daly City uses the aquifer to pump fresh drinking water to about half of its residents, while golf courses and cemeteries use the lake for irrigation.

But last week, Michael Carlin, PUC project manager for Lake Merced, said that PUC officials “haven’t seen anything to date” from any of the parties at the negotiating table. He said this raised concern that the lake could remain in poor condition long into the future.

 “This is not the greatest news to hear,” said Normandy. “This is not the forward progress that we wanted to see.”
Carlin added that San Francisco had no authority over the negotiations. This made it difficult to monitor progress and receive information regarding the status of the agreement among the parties and their use of Lake Merced, he said.

“We’ll be at the table”

PUC general manager Pat Martel promised that her agency would contact Daly City and emphasize San Francisco’s desire to sit at the bargaining table and help facilitate an agreement between the parties.

 “Even if we don’t make the deadline, at least we’ll be at the table,” Martel said last week.

Residents who attended the meeting accused the PUC of being too soft on those drawing water from the lake and said the agency had refused to work with the public to restore its water levels.

“The PUC is spending money like a drunken sailor to fight the public but not help the citizens of San Francisco,” said David Dawdy.

Groups such as Friends of Lake Merced and the Committee to Save Lake Merced believe the PUC commission needs to apply more pressure on PUC staff to take legal action against San Mateo County, the golf courses, and the cemeteries if the parties to fail to reach an agreement.

Similar inaction has occurred in the past, lake advocates say. They point to 1995, when the PUC passed a resolution stating: “If the golf courses in the vicinity of Lake Merced have not reached a decision regarding the suitability of tertiary [recycled] water from Daly City by November 1, 1995, the commission will consider taking and other action.” No such action was taken.

Not a drinking-water source

Another subject of contention was the PUC's determination that Lake Merced should not be regarded as a drinking-water source for San Francisco.

John Plummer, president of Friends of Lake Merced, found this determination perplexing. He said that in his many years of working with Friends of Lake Merced and the Lake Merced Task Force, he was under the impression that Lake Merced had been designated an emergency drinking-water source for the city in the event of a catastrophic event or a drought.

Carlin announced at a November 15 community meeting sponsored by the Lake Merced Task Force, and reiterated at last week's PUC commission meeting, that the water of Lake Merced could not be made fit for household consumption.

 “This is not the first time I’ve made this statement,” said Carlin. “It is not the Hetch-Hetchy reservoir. We have no way to get [the water] to a water-treatment center.”

He added the lake had been designated an emergency source of water for fire suppression.

Carlin also said that the PUC had begun the first phase of a program that would study the effects of diverting storm water into the lake to raise water levels.

The PUC has also constructed shallow water-well monitors, which agency officials hope will determine the cause of the lake's decreasing water levels.