S.F. Water System Plan Could Derail Alameda Creek Steelhead Restoration

SFPUC Jeopardizes Schedule for Water System Upgrades with Inadequate
Environmental Review of Alameda Creek Projects

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 24, 2007
CONTACT: Jeff Miller, Alameda Creek Alliance, (510) 499-9185

Sunol, CA - The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) is
dismissing consideration of the impacts of three dams on steelhead trout in
Alameda Creek as part of a programmatic environmental review for retrofits
to San Francisco's water system, and is proposing water supply projects in
the Sunol Valley that could further harm fish and wildlife in Alameda Creek.

The SFPUC's failure to include Alameda Creek stream restoration as part of a
project to rebuild the seismically vulnerable Calaveras Dam and
controversial SFPUC proposals to divert more water from Alameda Creek could
unnecessarily jeopardize the schedule for water system upgrades.

"We support San Francisco making needed retrofits to its water system,
however the new Calaveras Dam and reservoir must be operated to allow
restoration of steelhead trout to Alameda Creek," said Jeff Miller, Director
of the Alameda Creek Alliance. "SFPUC dams currently operate in violation of
state wildlife protection laws, and to rebuild a major dam without providing
adequate water for fish and wildlife below the dam is unacceptable."

The San Francisco Planning Department last week finished accepting public
comments on the Draft Program Environmental Impact Report (DPEIR) for the
SFPUC's Water System Improvement Program (WSIP), a $4.3 billion S.F. water
system upgrade plan through the year 2030. Formal comments submitted by the
Alameda Creek Alliance,
California Department of Fish and Game and
Alameda County Water District noted the inadequacy of the DPEIR in
addressing potential impacts to steelhead trout. The Alameda Creek Alliance
is insisting that water system infrastructure in the Sunol Valley (including
Calaveras Dam and Reservoir, Alameda Diversion Dam, and San Antonio
Reservoir) be operated to allow steelhead trout to thrive in Alameda Creek.

The DPEIR failed to address impacts of WSIP projects on migratory fish in
Alameda Creek, dismissing the planned restoration of steelhead trout to
Alameda Creek as "speculative." The proposed Calaveras Dam Replacement and
Alameda Creek Fishery "Enhancement" projects include provisions that could
allow the SFPUC to divert additional stream flow from Alameda Creek, which
would impact native fish and other aquatic wildlife in Alameda Creek. The
SFPUC already diverts 86% of the stream flows of the upper Alameda Creek
watershed and operates Calaveras and San Antonio Reservoirs with no minimum
bypass flows to keep native fish downstream in good condition. The WSIP
contemplates diverting almost all of the winter and spring stream flows from
upper Alameda Creek at the Alameda Diversion Dam.

Seventeen public agencies and nonprofit organizations, including the SFPUC,
signed a formal agreement in October 2006 to collaborate on a study of the
stream flows and fish habitat needed for Alameda Creek steelhead trout
restoration. In 2006 the SFPUC adopted the Water Enterprise Environmental
Stewardship Policy, which states: "it is the policy of the SFPUC to operate
the SFPUC water system in a manner that protects and restores native fish
and wildlife downstream of SFPUC dams and water diversions, within SFPUC
reservoirs, and on SFPUC watershed lands."

"Other agencies are moving forward with fish passage projects in lower
Alameda Creek that will allow steelhead trout and Chinook salmon to return
to the upper watershed by 2010, before construction of Calaveras Dam is
complete," said Miller. "We are extremely disappointed that the SFPUC has
not included adequate mitigations for sustaining steelhead and salmon in
Alameda Creek as part of the water system upgrade."

The SFPUC manages 36,800 acres of public land and operates three dams in the
upper Alameda Creek watershed. Calaveras Dam and Reservoir, completed in
1925, captures runoff from 100 square miles of the Calaveras Creek and
Arroyo Hondo watersheds. The Alameda Diversion Dam and tunnel also diverts
winter flows from upper Alameda Creek into Calaveras Reservoir. Completion
of the Calaveras Dam trapped formerly ocean-run steelhead trout above the
reservoir and blocked fish migration from S.F. Bay into the best trout
spawning and rearing habitat in the watershed. An estimated adult population
of 300 or more landlocked steelhead/rainbow trout survives in Calaveras
Reservoir and spawns in the Arroyo Hondo tributary. The SFPUC does not
release water from either dam to benefit fish and wildlife downstream, and
low summer flows and high water temperatures have reduced native trout to
remnant populations below the dam.

Because the dam is near an active fault zone and was determined to be
vulnerable in a strong earthquake, the state Division of Safety of Dams in
2001 restricted the reservoir storage level to 60% of capacity until the dam
is rebuilt. The SFPUC has proposed a replacement earthen dam immediately
downstream of the existing dam, with a core that could allow future
enlargement of the dam. The rebuild is scheduled to be completed by 2012.

In 2005 the Alameda Creek Alliance and 68 other Bay Area conservation groups
requested that
the SFPUC improve stewardship of local and regional watershed lands and
restore water flow in Alameda Creek. The groups asked the SFPUC to abide by
state Fish and Game Codes requiring sufficient instream flows to sustain
native fish in good condition. The SFPUC signed an agreement in 1997 to
release minimal flows from Calaveras Reservoir to restore five miles of
Alameda Creek in the Sunol Valley, but to date has not released any of this
water.

Since steelhead trout in the Bay Area were listed as threatened under the
ESA in 1997, the Alameda Creek Alliance has been advocating for restoration
projects to allow migratory fish from the Bay to reach spawning habitat in
upper Alameda Creek. Adult steelhead attempting to migrate upstream have
been documented every winter the past decade in lower Alameda Creek, blocked
by barriers in the lower creek. Fifteen local, state, and federal agencies
are cooperating on fish passage projects in the watershed, including dam
removals and construction of fish ladders and fish screens. Planned
restoration projects will allow adult steelhead to access up to 20 miles of
spawning and rearing habitat in the watershed for the first time in over
half a century.

The Alameda County Flood Control District and Alameda County Water District
(ACWD) in July signed an agreement to design a fish ladder that will allow
steelhead to bypass a cement barrier known as the BART weir and an adjacent
inflatable water supply dam in the lower Alameda Creek flood control
channel, the main barriers to fish migration into Alameda Creek. The
agencies announced their goal to have the fish ladder constructed by 2010.
The SFPUC removed two dams from the Niles Canyon reach of Alameda Creek last
summer and the ACWD is currently installing fish screens and preparing to
remove a diversion dam from lower Alameda Creek.

The Alameda Creek Alliance (
http://www.alamedacreek.org) is a community watershed group with over 1,450
members, dedicated to protection and restoration of the natural ecosystems
of the Alameda Creek watershed.



- Jeff

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Jeff Miller
Director
Alameda Creek Alliance
P.O. Box 192
Canyon, CA 94516
(510) 499-9185
Fax (415) 436-9683
Web site: :http://www.alamedacreek.org/> http://www.alamedacreek.org

Protecting and restoring the natural ecosystems of the Alameda Creek
watershed