Ecological Detectives Hunt for San Francisco’s Vanished Waterways

In a bid to kindle a public reimagining of the urban landscape, Hidden Nature SF will introduce people to San Francisco’s past with nature walks in the Presidio and “ecological detective office hours” at the Exploratorium, Baumgarten says. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (PUC) already has green infrastructure projects in the works—based in part on its own historical research—to help relieve pressure on the combined stormwater-sewer system, says Sarah Minick, program manager at the commission. Although 8,000 people who live and work in the Presidio’s historic buildings get about 80 percent of their supply from a local waterway called Lobos Creek, Stringer says, most San Franciscans have not used local water since before the city infamously dammed Hetch Hetchy, a valley near Yosemite National Park, to supply itself with water from 167 miles away.

Source: www.scientificamerican.com