SFPUC Pipeline Project on Mt D
12 February 2008 - 04:41, Tinman said
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Last year we expended considerable energy — and arrived at an agreeable result — with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission regarding their plans for seismic retrofits to the tank and pipelines on Mt D.
In a nutshell, here’s what the SFPUC will do:
- Reinforce the 23-foot deep tank buried at the eastern edge of the summit plateau
- Replace the pipeline under the trail from the south entrance to the summit
- Replace the pipeline north to the reservoir not where it currently runs but about one hundred feet into the weedy treed area
The biggest problem with the SFPUC’s plans — apart from the fact that they were begun without the SFPUC even knowing that RPD has a management plan for these areas, much less taking that plan into consideration — was the northern segment of the pipeline. It would have trenched through the critical transitional habitat between the scrub/grasslands and the trees on the northeast flank. This area has about twelve different species of native berries and is as a result one of the most important bird habitats in the City. The initially-proposed disruptions would have been disastrous, but fortunately this has been averted (on paper anyway).
Everything will ride on whether in fact the plans are properly implemented in the field. The SFPUC will contract out this work, and experience with similar projects elsewhere in the City has unfortunately shown that violating specific provisions in such plans is often regarded as a minor cost of doing business for some contractors. SFPUC has assured us that adequate penalties for plan violations will be in place, as will their monitoring efforts — but adroit monitoring by us will also be essential. This web site should prove useful in that regard.
The latest update from SFPUC is that they expect to begin the work in late April, though heavy equipment probably won’t arrive until early May. SFPUC is talking with potential contractors, and bids are due on Feb 14. Once they’ve chosen a contractor, SFPUC will schedule another public meeting in late March or early April to further discuss the project. We’ll post further details here as they develop.
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