Rising cost of rebuilding Hetch Hetchy will affect Coastside water prices

The cost rebuilding the Hetch Hetchy water system is continuing to grow, creating new concerns about the cost and new demands to tear down the O’Shaughnessy Dam, which sits across the Tuolumne River in Yosemite National Park and return its reservoir its natural state. The increased cost of this project will show up on County Coastside Water District water bills.

The projected cost has grown 20 percent to $4.3 billion, and suburban customers of San Francisco-owned system will be asked to pick up part of the tab.

Under the plan approved by San Francisco voters in 2002, San Franciscans would see their $14.43 monthly water bill for a typical four-person household rise to $40.85 a month by 2015 to cover the costs of the city bonds.

The remaining $2 billion cost of the Hetch Hetchy rebuilding was to be picked up by the system’s wholesale customers outside the city. In 2002, officials estimated that a typical four-person household outside San Francisco that received Hetch Hetchy water would see their monthly bill rise from $32 to $71 by 2015.

Not all of the Coastside would be equally affected. Coastside County Water District gets 70% of its water from Hetch Hetchy and related systems owned by San Francisco, according to CCWD General Manager Ed Schmidt. Montara Water and Sanitary District gets no water from the San Francisco system.