San Francisco’s Emergency Firefighting Water System is vital for protecting lives, homes, and businesses from large fires. Originally built following the 1906 Great Earthquake and fires, it provides secondary defense to the domestic (drinking water) firefighting system, which may be damaged during a large earthquake. The majority of the current Emergency Firefighting Water System serves the central and eastern areas of the City. The outer western neighborhoods currently rely on the existing domestic firefighting water system and emergency water storage cisterns.
The proposed new Westside Potable Emergency Firefighting Water System would increase protection for the western neighborhoods. Generally it would extend from Lake Merced in the south to Lincoln Park and the Presidio in the north and bounded by Highway 1 on the east and the Great Highway on the west.
The Westside Potable Emergency Firefighting Water System would be seismically resilient providing emergency firefighting water immediately following a major earthquake. Similar to existing capabilities under catastrophic emergency conditions, the system could include drawing water from Lake Merced should other sources not be available. After fires are extinguished, these same pipelines would provide drinking water as well.
There are multiple benefits to constructing a potable emergency firefighting system that serves both drinking water and emergency firefighting supply. Instead of constructing separate new seismic systems for drinking water and emergency firefighting, we accomplish both goals with this one project. This makes the most out of ratepayer dollars and bond funds.
