Remove Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite?

[gturner]

Hetch Hetchy Valley is in Yosemite National Park, and was the twin of Yosemite Valley. John Muir called it, "one of nature’s rarest and most precious mountain temples."

After creation of the park Congress approved a plan to dam it to provide water to San Francisco, flooding it under 300 feet of water.

This fall the people of San Francisco get to vote on removing the dam and restoring the valley to its pristine condition, which will cost a lot of money and create some potentially serious problems for San Francisco's water supply.

Republican politicians outside SF support removing the dam, Democrat politicians from SF, including Pelosi, oppose the removal plan. Everybody gets the benefits of a beautiful new valley, but only SF suffers the loss of the water, so it's not a partisan issue, it's a local one. Yet the entire world would get to visit the new valley, so one could think San Francisco is being pretty selfish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetch_Hetchy_Valley

http://www.hetchhetchy.org/

http://seattletimes.com/html/travel/2018828150_webyosemite05.html

Try a Google image search on Hetch Hetchy. It was some amazing scenery and an extremely diverse ecosystem.

Of course for the first couple of years after draining the reservoir, the valley would look like a coal-mine disaster, just mud, concrete rubble, bulldozers, and dump trucks.

On top of that, San Francisco would probably have to dam up other valleys or create other artificial reservoirs which wouldn't be nearly as deep, thus requiring far more area to be submerged.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I think a good argument could have been made to not screw it up in the first place, but we may be beyond that point now without screwing things up more.

 

[Gaith]

Yet the entire world would get to visit the new valley, so one could think San Francisco is being pretty selfish.

Whoo-hoo, two SF-based Misc. threads!

I've never bothered to research the specific pros and cons of of the removal arguments, but I do know that California is still filled with wondrous natural landscapes, but that there's only one San Francisco... on the whole planet.

Yes, but only when California can afford the expense and SF has a new water supply.

​

Since California is broke by design, I wouldn't hold my breath on that first part.

 

[NebulaClassGuy]

I voted the first option... to remove the damn dam. But regardless, Gaith is correct... CA will never be able to afford it. Which probably means it's sure to happen.

 

[gturner]

I've never bothered to research the specific pros and cons of of the removal arguments, but I do know that California is still filled with wondrous natural landscapes, but that there's only one San Francisco... on the whole planet.

Wait, I found more!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_(disambiguation)

Only one in the US, but lots in Latin America and one in Spain.

But something tells me they aren't quite the same as ours.

 

[Misfit Toy]

I've never bothered to research the specific pros and cons of of the removal arguments, but I do know that California is still filled with wondrous natural landscapes, but that there's only one San Francisco... on the whole planet.

Wait, I found more!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_(disambiguation)

Only one in the US, but lots in Latin America and one in Spain.

But something tells me they aren't quite the same as ours.

Well damn. Tony Bennett will never find his heart now...

 

[Thestral]

I think a good argument could have been made to not screw it up in the first place, but we may be beyond that point now without screwing things up more.

Yeah, I tend to agree. Inundated historic land is something that's part of the fabric of where I live; it's just the tradeoff of human civilization.

 

[gturner]

^ If someone suggested draining a TVA reservoir people in Tennessee would freak out. They love their lakes more than they would the valleys.

But I have an odd compromise solution that will bankrupt the entire nation. The glacial valleys at Yosemite are actually very, very deep. They're just filled with about 2,000 feet of sediment from previous lakes (a lake is a frequent natural feature of the valleys.)

http://www.yosemite.ca.us/formation/

So we get rid of the dam and dig the valley down about 350 feet, and then set 300 foot tall concrete pilings and build what looks like the world's largest and tallest single-level parking garage. Then we cover it with dirt and let the basement flood. San Francisco still has a 300 foot deep reservoir, and the valley can be returned to its pristine condition on top of the subterranean chamber. Then we grab picnic baskets and go wait for the next big Earthquake to see if the roof collapses.