Water system maintenance causes concerns among some San Mateo County residents

The Cordilleras Creek, one of two creeks running through Redwood City, also cuts through Redwood High School where Tureillo works as a custodian. Typically the creek is “bone dry,” Tureillo said, but starting Wednesday, June 9, staff at the school noticed it was flowing strong.

Because the creek serves as a connection between the Bay Area and the Hetch Hetchy reservoir in the Sierra Nevada mountains, controlled by a 160-mile system of tunnels, pipelines, reservoirs and treatment plants, school staff was concerned there may be a break in the system.

Chris Beetley-Hagler, a teacher at Redwood High School, began calling city and county water departments for information and was told the agencies were unaware of any repairs.

Terence Kyaw, director of Redwood City’s Public Works Department, said the city was unaware of the water flow because the creek is privately owned. The water system is also managed by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission which conducts repairs and upgrades without the need of city approvals.

Will Reisman, SFPUC’s press secretary, said the water flow was caused by a routine maintenance project meant to repair a leak in a portion of the Bay Division Pipeline, a 21-mile pipeline connecting Redwood City to Fremont.

The repair required SFPUC crews to drain a portion of the pipeline, or “dewater” it by releasing the water into a permitted location, often a storm drain or creek. The pipe was later disinfected with a solution of water and high concentrations of chlorine and then flushed with additional water to remove the chlorine, preventing the chemical from being released into the creek, Reisman explained in an email.

Given messaging from political leaders and climate activists calling on the public to be water conscious, Tureillo said he was disappointed to see the amount of water released.

“I thought wow. We’re hearing about the drought, fire dangers, to conserve water, that water rates might be going up and here they are letting this flow for a week,” Tureillo said.

He suggested the agency could wait until the dry summer months were replaced by cooler and potentially rainier days.

Recognizing community concerns for wasting water during these unseasonably dry and hot times, Reisman said the project was time sensitive given high summer demands and could not be put off until later in the year. The agency also avoided dewatering the entire pipeline to conserve water, he said.

“We consider many conditions when preparing to do maintenance and repairs on our pipelines,” Reisman said in an email. “Our main concern is making sure we meet the level of service needed to provide water to our 2.7 million customers.”

sierra@smdailyjournal.com

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