Emergency Firefighting Water Supply – Richmond/Sunset Beacon Review

by Thomas K. Pendergast

It is moving ahead with a plan to expand the Emergency Fire Fighting Water Supply System (EFWS) to quell the inferno likely to follow a major earthquake, with new pipelines proposed in addition to those already funded.

However, finding the money to pay for the additional pipelines appears to be a major challenge, city officials said at a recent San Francisco Board of Supervisors committee meeting.

The 1906 Shaker caused thousands of deaths, many burned under rubble due to hundreds of smashed water pipes and thousands of faulty service connections. System failures eliminated the water pressure needed to fight the ensuing firestorm. In the years immediately following this devastation, the city built the Auxiliary Water Supply System (AWSS), a separate high-pressure water system consisting of seawater pipelines and pumps designed to withstand massive earthquakes and deliver enough water pressure to fight large fires.

At the time, most of the city’s population lived on the east side, so the original system was only built, with some subsequent expansions, as far west as 12th Avenue in the Richmond area and eventually 19th Street in the Sunset District. But in the decades that followed, as the city expanded westward, the AWSS did not follow, leaving over a dozen neighborhoods in the western and southern regions vulnerable to yet another devastating firestorm.

The 2019 Civic Grand Jury Report “Acting Now Before It’s Too Late: Expanding and Strengthening the High Pressure Emergency Fire Water System” (EFWS) raised questions about fire protection after the next major earthquake and whether firefighters will ever have enough of water pressure to fight any resulting fires. If that happens sooner rather than later, neighborhoods in Supervisory Zones 1, 4, 7, 8, 9, and 11 could be vulnerable to fires similar to those that destroyed much of the city in 1906.

A $682.5 million bond scale went on the ballot in March 2020 to improve fire stations and emergency facilities across the city. It was passed overwhelmingly with 81% of the vote. More than $154 million of that amount is to go towards expanding the EFWS – formerly known as AWSS – to the Richmond and Sunset areas. This system of earthquake-resistant pipelines will cover large swaths of those areas and place a new pumping station in Lake Merced to provide additional water for the expanded system.

Gordon Marr, District 4 superintendent, said this latest report came from a decision taken by the Board of Supervisors in late 2019 declaring a state of emergency to extend the EFWS to all unprotected neighborhoods in the city. He also called on departments to come up with a comprehensive plan “to complete this very important project by 2034,” Marr said.

In 2021, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) released a report offering an option to complete it 12 years later in 2046.

SFPUC spokesperson John Scarpola explained to Lamar that the current system can save about 80,000 gallons of water per minute (80,000 gallons per minute). They estimated, based on projected requirements in 2050, that they would need an estimated water supply of 255,000 gallons per minute to fight fires after the “typical” 7.9 Richter earthquake at the San Andreas Fault, which was probably close to the magnitude of the 1906 earthquake.

“Therefore, there is a need for additional water sources, pipelines, and increased capacity,” Scarpola explained. “This plan assumes that the fire department’s resources will increase with San Francisco’s population growth, so additional staff, trucks, etc. are an essential part.

“We have two different timelines: we have a 2034 timeline and that has a certain cost,” he said. “We have noted that to meet this timeline we will need significant additional resources for the city. It is a very large project that has to be completed in a 12-year timeline. Then we give what we think is a more realistic 25-year timeline. So 2046 is another timeline for its creation. And you’ll see a cost for that.”

The recommended SFPUC option will be based mostly on Hetch-Hetchy’s potable water, but will also install a pumping station at Lake Merced as a backup source. To fully build this option and list all proposed and currently unfunded pipelines by 2034, they estimate it will cost more than $2.9 billion, or by 2046 the price will rise to more than $4 billion.

The second option would not include the waters of Lake Merced, and instead rely on seawater pumps as a back-up source if the Hetch-Hetchy water supply is not sufficient. To complete it by 2034 would cost more than $4 billion, or $5.7 billion if completed by 2046.

The third option would include both Lake Merced and new seawater pumping stations, although the estimated cost would be more than $4.4 billion by 2034, or $6.1 billion by 2046.

“The EFWS program was primarily supported by Geo-Bonds. We have put in about $260 million in voter-approved mandates (in the current EFWS system)…over the past 10 years,” said Brian Strong, Director of Capital Planning. This was the largest investment in the system since its inception. Therefore, we consider this a top priority.”

In the next 10 years, they have a number of other programs that they have funded through their capital plan, such as housing and sanitation, or critical infrastructure like a seawall to address rising sea levels, for example.

“In the next 10 years our expectation is that we will have $1.2 billion in geo-bond financing available for the whole city, for all the different projects. So, when we talk about that level of investment, we have to go higher than we have in the whole city over the next 10 years,” Strong said.

I would certainly be a strong advocate of trying to secure federal dollars to do this kind of work. So far, we haven’t been successful in our discussions with FEMA or those kinds of organizations. They tend only to fund large infrastructure after a disaster.”

He added that the California state government could be another potential source of funds for expanding EFWS.

The 2019 Civic Grand Jury report called for a temporary solution through the purchase of more portable hosepipe trucks, which are essentially pumps on wheels that can draw water from a tank or lake and cost about $1 million each. They are then placed in strategic locations in high-risk areas.

“As an interim measure, no later than June 30, 2021, the city must purchase 20 new tenders for PWSS hoses. These tenders should be strategically located in areas where there are only low pressure water pipes and tanks,” the report said.

So far, the city has budgeted for the Social Fund for Development only to purchase five more hose trucks.

“And then it gets a little tricky going forward because we don’t have space in our current infrastructure to house the additional 10 hose bids,” Fire Department Deputy Chief Tom O’Connor said. “Right now we have about 64 fire engines…by adding 20 more we are going to increase our fleet by a third and we don’t have the physical infrastructure. So we will have to talk about securing additional funding going forward. It is not impossible but it is, like everything Another in this plan, requires more resources.”

“Obviously, this would be a very expensive and costly project going forward,” Marr replied. “It is useful to include actual cost projections in the planning study, but I think we all know it will be more expensive if we do not act with greater urgency to address this major infrastructure project in terms of property and life loss in our city.”

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