The Phelps Treatment Plant upgrade began with a $6 billion budget in 2012 and is on track to double to $12 billion by 2024. This trajectory could see us, the SF taxpayers, facing a staggering $20 Billion bill sooner than we think.
David Chu, the San Francisco - City Attorney and the General Manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), has taken the significant step of suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) without first consulting the citizens of San Francisco in a Public Meeting.
Your involvement in this lawsuit is significant, vital, and highly valued.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued hundreds of Notices of Violations (NOVs) - to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC).
The previous and current General Managers of the SFPUC ignored the Clean Water Act and defied local, state, and federal rules and regulations linked to safeguarding our water.
I have been attending the SFPU Commission meeting for a long time, but most of those who participated in the conference with me decided to do other things. The reason is that the SFPU Commission talks in circles and will not listen to the taxpayers, the constituents—the very citizens who pay their salaries and fulfill the bond measures.
Here is the matter before the Supreme Court:
https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/fed-lawsuit-san-francisco-stormwater.pdf
In 2002, the City and County of San Francisco realized that the infrastructure linked to the Clean Water system—the Sewer and combined sewage collection system, which takes raw sewage and rainwater—needed immediate attention.
A $4.6 billion bond measure was put on the ballot and passed, ensuring the management of clean water and wastewater infrastructure.
Following the bond measure's approval, the SFPU Commission focused on clean water and neglected the wastewater infrastructure. This choice has had significant implications for our local water system.
This deferred maintenance is never mentioned—for one reason, only stupidity.
The SFPUC thinks and feels it can hoodwink us citizens while it wastes millions of dollars, and now it wants to waste more money by suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Here is the take of KQED, who has been monitoring the case that SFPUC has taken before the Supreme Court - it will take some weeks for an adjudication :
https://www.kqed.org/news/12009496/san-francisco-challenges-epa-in-supreme-court-over-water-pollution-standards
Dennis Herrera, former SF City Attorney and current General Manager of the SFPUC - he is not an engineer - and as SF City Attorney - had access to all the documents that led to the indictment of the former SFPUC General Manager Harlan Kelly. Herrera is now in charge of the SFPUC - the fox guarding the chicken coop.
We have several outlets in the Bay, Force Mains 8 feet wide - where, on many occasions, the so-called effluents are laden with chemicals, toxic elements, lead, mercury, medicines, and variants—all this and more make it into our Bay.
As we know, our dual system - taken in the sewage and the rain - the deferred maintenance fails - every time we have heavy rain. Every time the Bay water is tested - in recent years - the EPA has issued SFPUC with a Notice of Violations (NOVs).
If the SFPUC does not behave itself - it will have to pay EPA as much as $66,000 a day - this matter is now - before our Supreme Court - the Conservative Judges favoring SFPUC and the liberal judges - favoring the Clean Water Act.
The Clean Water Act is a Standard that focuses on Clean Water - and has rules and regulations that charge those who do not behave themselves - to pollute, contaminate, and destroy all that was pristine - thousands of years ago.
California and the Bay Area entities like the SFPUC and the former SF Water Department - have contaminated the Bay in just one hundred and 150 years.
The SFPUC could address the issues that the EPA is involved with by bringing together all the parties that pollute—just like that, the SFPUC issues would be reduced to the lowest common denominator.
The algae and other issues involved the farmers who contaminate the Bay with fertilizers, mercy from the old mines - when it rains and pollutes the Bay.
The entities that test the waters from the Bay—our Universities—local, state, and federal monitoring the Bay—have not been invited to reveal the test and offer solutions so that all may work together with the EPA and others to make good things happen.
Suing the State of California, suing Pacific Gas and Electric, using the Environmental Protection Agency - is a waste of money - more so when 95% of the time - the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission loses its cases.
Four SF Public Utilities Commissioners recently stepped down—there was no quorum. Then, three novices were appointed in a few weeks—none knew how convoluted the SFPUC operations were.
There is a hidden agenda. Candidates chosen as Commissioners are selected so that the General Manager can quickly deal with large projects. Who is fooling whom when millions are spent, and bribes and other shenanigans, ploys, and machinations are involved?
In selecting these new Commissioners, we want to know who was on the panel that selected them. As SFPUC is known for lying, cheating, bluffing, and choosing primes who are suspects, they have repeatedly done this. Pathetic.
We are all looking forward to the October 22, 2024, meeting, which will be held at San Francisco City Hall, Room 400, starting at 1:30 p.m.
No one can fool all the San Franciscans- all the time - the SFPU Commissioners are playing with fire. Time will tell.
We get our water from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. The pristine water travels to Crystal Springs, enters San Francisco, and is stored in large Reservoirs like University Mound.
SFPUC still needs to maintain the Raker Act of 1913 mandates - the SFPUC recently had four Commissioners vacate their seats - infighting within the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
Three Commissioners have been appointed but have yet to learn about the SFPU Commission and its many convoluted operations and projects. Who is fooling whom?
These seats were filled a few weeks ago, so to make a quorum, I will attend the next meeting on October 22, 2024, in Room 400 at SF City Hall. The meeting will start at 1:30 p.m.
San Francisco was a great city, but not anymore.
Thank God we have some advocates like Peter Drekmeier, the Sierra Club, and the many blessed young women and men in San Francisco who embrace values and understand the Clean Water Act.
Dwayne Jones—it has been a while since he was indicted. We are awaiting the day when justice and fair play prevail.
In the interim, the many indictments within the SFPUC are still ongoing - you may have heard about Dwayne Jones, Juliet Ellis, Harlan Kelly - others - too many to mention - over 30 on the list - waiting in line to sing the blues.
No one deals with more crap than the citizens of San Francisco -from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
We have yet to get a presentation from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) on the number of clean water pipes that have been replaced.
When the project started in 2016, the SFPUC was tasked to replace 1200 clean water pipes.
In like fashion, 1100 sewer pipes - no one seems to care - this deferred maintenance will come to bite the SFPUC in the butt.
In San Francisco, miles of lead pipes in some areas have not been replaced—pipes under the SFPUC's jurisdiction.
Often, the pipes are replaced by SFPUC within the jurisdiction of the City and County of San Francisco. The lead pipes leading to the homes that have lead pipes are left to the owners to replace, and most of these owners cannot afford to do so.
What sense does this make—to put human beings in harm's way while the copper pipes are replaced outside the home and the lead pipes are not addressed inside the homes?
In the past decades - thousands of children and others have died from lead poisoning - and not a word about this at the SFPUC commission meetings.
In recent years, brand new valves costing thousands of dollars, linked to the main pipes that bring water to homes and other facilities—like massive institutions and skyscrapers— have malfunctioned and spewed millions of gallons of clean water.
We, the citizens and constituents of San Francisco, have been kept in the dark.
Our Bay is toxic, and more so when the water gets warm. In recent years, the algae has spread so far that it threatens the fish and other plants that the toxic algae produces and kills on impact.
Universities and other institutions are taking samples from the Bay, and the results are shocking.
These scientists have found strange viruses—dangerous variants—. Still, none of this information is made available to the constituents and citizens of San Francisco and others in and around the Bay Area.
SFPUC has no clue that they are responsible for many innocent people wind-surfing and swimming in the Bay - exposed to viruses and deadly diseases - it is just a matter of time - before SFPUC is fined, and I would love to see - how these morons - react to the on coming lawsuits - in the pipeline.
San Francisco is surrounded on three sides by water—the Bay, which acts as our air conditioner, keeping us moderately cool and allowing us to live healthy lives.
We must not take our fog and location with the surrounding water for granted. We cannot afford to pollute the environment and act as if we are in good shape when the opposite is true.
The latest change made in a hurry - filling the four vacant seats - at the SFPU Commission - is suspect.
We demand vetted commissioners, with sufficient notice given to the public. We want to know who truly represents us. Please do not treat the public in San Francisco with disdain.
If you do so, you will have to deal with the ire of those who know better than you—the most corrupt and incompetent.
The skyline of San Francisco - over 41 million square feet of commercial space in the Financial District is vacant. This impacts the infrastructure - the SFPUC has not inspected the many buildings with leaks - the infrastructure outside too - and if they do, they will find many leaks - and other serious issues - these ongoing failures - that need urgent inspection - since the pandemic -
- dereliction of duty.
The Environmental Protection Agency - right so - should defend - the Clean Water Act.
The City and County of San Francisco and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission - have favored deferred maintenance - change order to the tune of billions of dollars - the Phelps Treatment Plant upgrades - started with a $6 billion budget and are now heading to $12 billion and soon will be $20 billion.
The digestors must be replaced.
SFPUC has serious power problems and insufficient energy to operate the new digestors—time will tell.
Our Bay must not be polluted. The SFPUC needs to address the many locations where millions of gallons of raw sewage spill into the Bay and Pacific Ocean. The SFPU Commissioners have yet to address the chronic situation, preferring to take the issues to the Supreme Court.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is an Enterprise Agency. It makes money by selling clean drinking water, charging the constituents for Sewer, and, so they say, providing clean electricity.
It gets money from golf courses, renting millions of acres of land for grazing, and a quarry in Sunol.
It also sells our clean drinking water to companies that manufacture chips and computers and other companies that use it to cool their operations.
It has long-term agreements with the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency (BAWSCA), which buys water from SFPUC.
Paradoxically, when the Raker Act of 1913 was signed, the clean drinking water provision was meant to provide clean drinking water to San Francisco.
At one time, the City and County spread from San Francisco to Palo Alto—one by one—San Mateo, Burlingame, South San Francisco, Brisbane, Daly City, Palo Alto, Santa Clara—other counties were created—and each dealt with its water consumption in its own way.
Many counties and entities - still buy clean drinking water from SFPUC, and all this and more have yet to be assessed regarding viable and sustainable supply.
Plans - have NOT been made for drought and other eventualities, such as fire, earthquake, and other emergencies.
No one at the SFPUC in San Francisco is paying attention to our clean drinking water, the depletion of our glaciers, or climate change.
We keep building skyscrapers and ignore clean drinking water to sustain the demand—more so when over 41 million square feet of commercial space is vacant in the Financial District.
Similarly, the millions of gallons of Sewer generated and how it is disposed of in the Bay today.
The Muwekma Ohlone.
San Francisco is a racist city - and the mantra of Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion - are just words spoken with no viable and sustainable actions that matter and bring about progress in true inclusion.
I have been attending the SFPU Commission for a long time - and at this time, it is worst ever - they lie, cheat, and think they get away with murder in broad daylight.
Most employees working at the SFPUC are not happy - and many are not treated with respect.
When it comes to Community Benefits - we who fought for Community Benefits that cater to the community - were cheated - allowing Dwayne Jones and Juliet Ellis to dole out millions of dollars - without transparency and accountability.
The SFPUC must hold a hearing where the public can learn about the short-term and long-term goals, where the millions are not accounted for, and why—even in 2024—there is this stench of corruption—much like sulfur in the air.
No one can fool all the people - all the time - and the time for a meaningful dialog is now - we have been working with the Controller of San Francisco - the past one and the present - our time is now - and the truth will prevail - time will tell.
In 2002 two propositions were passed, one allocating $1.6 billion as San Francisco's contribution to the (then) $4.4 billion WSIP (Water System Improvement Program); the suburban customers were to pay the rest (and did). The second prop was E; it exempts SFPUC from having to go to the voters for bond approval. If schools or parks or Port or others want money, they go before the voters who say yea or nay. But after E passed, not SFPUC; it merely goes to its Commission (and if large the BOS) and sells bonds; voters have no say. This allows SFPUC to do lots of things that once were done by other departments, and it allows SFPUC to pay/employ other dept's employees when times are tough. Lake Merced? Give it to SFPUC. Emergency water fire system costing too much? Same: SFPUC. Want to distribute some "community benes" around Bayview? SFPUC, the deep pockets. Add the cost to the water bill. Naturally, this situation invites corruption among those at SFPUC. (Lake Merced was once Rec&Park; emergency water previously Fire Dept.)
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