Westside Emergency Firefighting Water System

What is the difference between the AWSS, EFWS and Westside EFWS?  

• EFWS (Emergency Firefighting Water System) is the name of the overall firefighting water system, formerly called the Auxiliary Water Supply System or AWSS.  The Emergency Firefighting Water System currently includes:
  • The components of the former Auxiliary Water Supply System or AWSS:  the 120-mile system of earthquake-resistant pipes and high-pressure hydrants installed after the 1906 earthquake. It is supplied by non-drinking water stored in a reservoir at Twin Peaks, and tanks at Jones Street and Ashbury, as well two bay water pump stations.
  • Westside EFWS (Westside Emergency Firefighting Water System): The Emergency Firefighting Water System proposed for the westside to protect neighborhoods such as the Sunset and the Richmond districts has been referred to as the Potable Emergency Firefighting Water System. This system would connect to both the existing drinking water system and, if needed, to Lake Merced for firefighting water.  It can also serve as a drinking water source as well.
  • Cisterns: more than 200 cisterns located throughout San Francisco that typically each hold 75,000 gallons of water for firefighting.
  • Fireboats: pump water into the Emergency 
    Firefighting Water System via manifold connections located along the waterfront.
  • Suction connections: these hydrants along the shoreline allow fire engines to pump water from the Bay.
  • Fulton Street Hydrants: this is a series of hydrants along Fulton Street supplied by Blue Heron Lake, Golden Gate Park’s largest body of water. 

Why provide a new Emergency Firefighting Water System instead of extending the existing system?

• The existing Emergency Firefighting Water System does not have enough water supply to provide fire protection to the west side of San Francisco. New reservoirs to store firefighting water would be needed. This would be very difficult to find the land and expensive in a compact urban area like San Francisco.
• The new Emergency Firefighting Water System would use existing reservoirs and pump stations. The existing drinking water reservoirs can gravity feed the system with nearly 20 times the storage capacity as the existing Emergency Firefighting Water System reservoirs combined. This simplifies operations, increases reliability, has less construction impacts, and saves public money to allow us to construct more with the funds we have.    
• Because the system would serve both drinking water and firefighting water needs, the SFPUC can share the cost of construction of the project with Water Capital funding. We can build out more of the potable emergency firefighting water system with existing funding already available.
• As soon as each segment of Westside Emergency Firefighting Water System is completed, it can be brought into service to fight fires. In other words, it would have immediate benefit to protection of life and property.

Why not just make the system use sea water instead of drinking water?

SFPUC and SFFD evaluated 12 alternatives for improving westside firefighting supply and jointly recommended a potable/emergency firefighting system in 2018.

• Impacts to Ocean Beach
  • A westside-only seawater system would require five to ten new saltwater pump stations, along the beach, additional electrical capacity, backup diesel generators, large pipelines, and extensive new infrastructure along Ocean Beach.
  • Such facilities would need to withstand harsh coastal conditions and comply with stringent environmental protection requirements and would face significant permitting challenges.
• Cost of construction and maintenance
  • A seawater system would not be eligible for water bond matching funds like the proposed Potable Emergency Firefighting Water System is.
  • The additional costs and permitting requirements would significantly delay fire coverage to the westside neighborhoods by a decade or more
  • Salt water is corrosive and a sea water only system would require expensive corrosion resistant materials and be expensive to maintain.
• Not needed because of Drinking Water Reservoirs and Lake Merced
  • The existing drinking water system provides several days of firefighting capacity.  In an emergency, crews will carefully monitor reservoir levels before switching over to the backup of Lake Merced.
  • Lake Merced has more than enough water for emergency firefighting water supply.
  • Lake Merced is easier to access. A pump station and piping already exist.
  • A seawater only station is much more complex.  It cannot function by gravity without constructing a new tank/reservoir.  It would take many years to design and permit, would requires significant new electrical power infrastructure, and construction of enclosures, pipelines, and diesel tanks along Ocean Beach. 

How was the decision made to build a potable emergency firefighting water system?

• The San Francisco Civil Grand Jury created three reports in 2003, 2018 and 2022 that called for an extension of the emergency firefighting water system into the areas of the City not currently covered by the existing Emergency Firefighting Water System.
• In 2018 the SFPUC, SFFD, DPW, and other City agencies commissioned a study of 12 different options for delivering an emergency firefighting water system to these other portions of the City. That report recommended a Potable Emergency Firefighting Water System, for the reasons mentioned above. In 2018 this was approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
• The SFPUC has had multiple check-ins with the Civil Grand Jury as design as progressed on the project. 

What happens to our drinking water supply if it’s being used for firefighting?

• San Franciscans in the west side would have a backup drinking water distribution system that will survive a major earthquake because of the pipelines constructed as part of the Westside Emergency Firefighting Water System
• The San Francisco Fire Department and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission have done extensive studies on the amount of water that would be needed to fight large fires as well as for drinking.
• SFPUC has a level of service goal to maintain or resume delivery of 81 Million Gallons per Day to San Francisco within 24 hours of a major earthquake, which is above the five year average of approximately 55 Million Gallons per day.  In an emergency, crews will carefully monitor reservoir levels considering drinking water needs before switching over to the backup firefighting water supply of Lake Merced.
• The system could also switch over to serving water from Lake Merced during a large earthquake while being isolated from the existing drinking water distribution pipeline network. 

How are these upgrades being paid for?

• The previous improvements to the Emergency Firefighting Water System were funded from about 25% of the San Francisco Earthquake Safety and Emergency Response (ESER) General Obligation Bonds.
• Half of the proposed future Potable Emergency Firefighting Water System would be paid for from future ESER Bonds, while the remaining 50% would be matched by the SFPUC Water Capital Improvement Plan bonds.

What firefighting water system upgrades have been built so far using ESER Bond funds?

• Since assuming management of EFWS in 2010, SFPUC has invested almost $260 million from the 2010, 2014, and 2020 ESER funds to stabilize and expand the system to additional neighborhoods, after decades of deferred maintenance.
• These investments have improved the EFWS’s seismic reliability and range of coverage, have built new cisterns, rehabilitated aging infrastructure, strengthened pump stations and repaired pipelines.  
• Completed work includes the following:
  • Reliability upgrades at the system’s primary water sources: Twin Peaks Reservoir, Ashbury Heights Tank; and Jones Street Tank
  • Replacing engines and installing remote control capabilities at Pump Station No. 1
  • Seismic upgrades at Pump Station No. 2 including a new steel roof, a rebuilt generator room, and replacement of critical components.
  • Construction of 30 new cisterns (underground water storage tanks), 15 of which are located in the Sunset and Richmond districts.
  • Several pipeline improvement and expansion projects including
    • Irving Street Irving Street pipeline, Ashbury Bypass pipeline
    • Candlestick Point pipeline
    • Columbus Avenue pipeline
    • Fillmore Street/Haight Street pipeline
    • Mission Street pipeline
    • Mariposa Street/Terry Francois Boulevard pipeline
    • Terry Francois Boulevard/Mission Rock Street pipeline
    • 19th Avenue pipeline
    • Vicente Street pipeline
    • Clarendon Supply pipeline and tunnel projects.