Why SF water stays pure amid California cleanliness issues
Thanks to Hetch Hetchy, [San Francisco] has some of the cleanest tap water across California. But for nearly 1 million people statewide, healthy drinking water remains out of reach. … Experts and advocates who spoke to The Examiner unanimously used one word to describe the most pertinent solution to address the water issues plaguing the state: consolidation. In other words, getting big municipalities with access to dense water resources to absorb smaller, struggling water systems. … There are currently more than 7,000 water systems throughout the state, which is, in itself, a major part of the problem, the experts said, and why 2% of the population lacks clean drinking water access. … San Francisco is, in some ways, the poster child for the difference it makes when a large population is served by a consolidated water system. The City’s water is managed by a single public utility, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. … And, for nearly 100 years, San Franciscans have received their drinking water almost exclusively from Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, a rich snowmelt-fed body of water in the Yosemite Valley. … San Francisco is one of just five water systems that has not received a failing report since the state began evaluating them in 2017.
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