Nestled in the Yosemite National Park is a glacier valley sitting below the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. The valley that sits below this body of water is said to be one of the most beautiful in all of Yosemite Park, and possibly even the world.
Yet, out of both necessity and greed, we trampled upon this natural and bewitching jewel by building a 360,000-acre reservoir in 1923 in order to supply drinking water to the San Francisco Bay Area, which consequently destroyed the valley.

I would like to be able to see this valley one day, perhaps take my children there in the future and share with them the beauty it beholds. Since San Francisco converted the beautiful Yosemite Park valley into a water storage tank, people have missed out on this diverse ecosystem and all it has to offer.

This 19th century water system needs reformation so we can begin to reverse the damage done to the national park over the last century. We need to look to southern California and their recycling system, which is still clean and does not drain and deplete their natural resources, as inspiration for how we can look for alternative options for resevoirs in the state.

At each sip we are taking we are expending from a valley that should be treasured and not exhausted and defiled. We need to begin a conversation about our water system in a way that ensures a new and creative alternative to our current system will be met.

Advocates of draining the Hetch Hetchy collected 16,000 signatures of San Francisco citizens with the intention of getting city officials to discuss and create a measure, which would require the city to spend $8 million on a study looking into draining the valley and restore it over time to a diverse ecosystem.

Restore Hetch Hetchy, a grassroots non-profit organization has stated the Hetch Hetchy reservoir only stores 25 percent of the system’s water. Hetch Hetchy is only one of nine reservoirs and is much smaller compared to Don Pedro which is six times the size of Hetch Hetchy and just downstream on the Tuolumne River.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission has planned projects funded by the $4.6 billion Water System Improvement Program bond that will increase seismic sustainability. To dismantle the reservoir and restore the land was estimated by the Associated Press to cost anywhere in the range of $3 billion to $10 billion.

The Interior Department set out on an investigation of San Francisco’s use of Hetch Hetchy valley at republican representative Dan Lungren’s request.

The Los Angeles Times reported last December that the federal law passed in 1913 states, “for its beneficial use for domestic and other municipal purposes,” when referring to the need of the dam as a last resort, after looking to domestic options.

San Francisco efforts will be investigated to determine if they’re working towards becoming sustainable with domestic use of water and recycling rainwater.

A possible solution to restoring Hetch Hetchy would be to redesign the water system and enhance the Don Pedro dam to give it a larger capacity. This would be downstream closer towards the area the water supplies and it is very attainable with compliance.

The federal commission, which is responsible for licensing hydropower facilities in the United States, is starting the five-year review of a new 50-year permit for Don Pedro Hydroelectric Project.

With new innovations for the dam in progress, this is a great time for citizens to consider reclaiming the Hetch Hetchy valley as their own while progressing towards utilizing domestic water, recycling rainwater and creating renewable water.

The great environmentalist and naturist John Muir, one of the forefathers of the national park system whose love for Yosemite Valley helped fuel a national sense of pride in its park system would truly be saddened to see Californians lacking pride in their land and not fighting to conserve it for future generations to enjoy. San Francisco Bay Area leads in the green movement in so many ways and it is simply shocking that they haven’t made leaps and bounds in creating domestic solutions to recycle and reuse all water.

While the San Francisco Bay Area uses a low amount in gallons of water per capita, they show little efforts to follow innovative cities like Los Angeles and their recycling water trend.

If we can figure out a different way to get our water that doesn’t require this beautiful valley to be our storage tank, we will be progressing to a brighter future for many generations to enjoy.

Muir once described this land as a “grand landscape garden, one of nature’s rarest and most precious mountain temples.” Let’s support this movement cited in alternative options and greener thought and re-discover this hidden jewel in our backyard.