The City and County of San Francisco's Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) hasidentified a $3.5 billion dollar capital improvement program to upgrade the Cityof San Francisco water system, which conveys water from the Sierra NevadaMountains in Northern California to the San Francisco Bay Area. One billiondollars of that total is needed to upgrade deterioration facilities within theCity of San Francisco (The City). The City water system includes: 1,200 miles ofwater distribution piping; 22 pump stations; 13 reservoirs; and, 8 tanks.Facilities are deteriorated, outdated, and have perpetual maintenance problems.Due to San Francisco's hilly topography water delivery is dependent upon pumpstations to lift water to elevated reservoirs and storage tanks. These criticalwater distribution facilities range in age from 60-120 years old. There is littleredundancy and the facilities are in desperate need of seismic upgrades. Tofurther complicate the situation, the water distribution facilities cannot betaken off-line simultaneously, and several of the capital projects will requiretaking facilities out of service for up to 24-months. The focus of this paperwill be the City's thirteen reservoirs which are all over 70 years old and inneed of repair and upgrade. A structural assessment was completed whichcategorized the major deficiencies and ranked the reservoirs in order ofimportance. The Water Department has undertaken a major capital program toupgrade the reservoirs. Upgrades will include: relining; roof replacement orrepair; access improvements; water quality improvements; construction ofdedicated inlet pipelines; and, seismic upgrades. This paper presents theresults of the reservoir assessment project and will provide case studies forthree of the on-going reservoir projects. Includes figures.
