Wildfire threatening the power grid that supplies San Francisco
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Re: Wildfire threatening the power grid that supplies San Francisco
#2For anyone wondering what the relationship between wildfires in Yosemite and San Francisco proper, its worth a small comment. California's Sierra Nevada range is a couple hours east of SF. These mountains include the highest points in the continental US. Trapping most of the water from the east-west jet stream. The sierras hold massive amounts of high-quality water, which runs out of the non-porous terrain of the high-alpine regions. The sierras are something of a geological monolith, not unlike a giant bathub [1]. SF taps into this water source at a dam on the West; LA taps into it on the East (LA acqueduct). This fire is threatening the a region about an hour or so north of Yosemite Valley, and west of Tuolome Meadows, where some critical infrastucure resides.[2]
[1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a2/Sierra_nevada...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Shaughnessy_Dam_%28Califor...
Re: Wildfire threatening the power grid that supplies San Francisco
#3For anyone wondering what the relationship between wildfires in Yosemite and San Francisco proper, its worth a small comment. California's Sierra Nevada range is a couple hours east of SF. These mountains include the highest points in the continental US. Trapping most of the water from the east-west jet stream. The sierras hold massive amounts of high-quality water, which runs out of the non-porous terrain of the hig…
I remember talking to one of the rangers at Yosemite, near one of the natural lakes that eventually supply water to SF. I remember him saying that he tells visitors who go answer nature's call at the lake to think twice, since they're going to be drinking this very water soon.
Re: Wildfire threatening the power grid that supplies San Francisco
#4For anyone wondering what the relationship between wildfires in Yosemite and San Francisco proper, its worth a small comment. California's Sierra Nevada range is a couple hours east of SF. These mountains include the highest points in the continental US. Trapping most of the water from the east-west jet stream. The sierras hold massive amounts of high-quality water, which runs out of the non-porous terrain of the hig…
Yikes! From the article:
"The Associated Press says San Francisco gets 85 percent of its water from the Yosemite-area Hetch Hetchy reservoir that is about 4 miles from the fire."
The fire is well established now, and in addition to the threat to the water supply they've already had to shut down electric transmission lines.
Re: Wildfire threatening the power grid that supplies San Francisco
#5For anyone wondering what the relationship between wildfires in Yosemite and San Francisco proper, its worth a small comment. California's Sierra Nevada range is a couple hours east of SF. These mountains include the highest points in the continental US. Trapping most of the water from the east-west jet stream. The sierras hold massive amounts of high-quality water, which runs out of the non-porous terrain of the hig…
I remember talking to one of the rangers at Yosemite, near one of the natural lakes that eventually supply water to SF. I remember him saying that he tells visitors who go answer nature's call at the lake to think twice, since they're going to be drinking this very water soon.
What did he say about drinking fish shit? And the effluent of every other critter in the park?
Re: Wildfire threatening the power grid that supplies San Francisco
#6Looks like a good case for decentralization of the power grid; a good application for a small modular LFTR[1] (or similar) power units. As a bonus, you won't need to spoil the scenery with HV transmission lines anymore.
[1] Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor
Re: Wildfire threatening the power grid that supplies San Francisco
#7For anyone wondering what the relationship between wildfires in Yosemite and San Francisco proper, its worth a small comment. California's Sierra Nevada range is a couple hours east of SF. These mountains include the highest points in the continental US. Trapping most of the water from the east-west jet stream. The sierras hold massive amounts of high-quality water, which runs out of the non-porous terrain of the hig…
Yikes! From the article: " The Associated Press says San Francisco gets 85 percent of its water from the Yosemite-area Hetch Hetchy reservoir that is about 4 miles from the fire. " The fire is well established now, and in addition to the threat to the water supply they've already had to shut down electric transmission lines.
[deleted]
Re: Wildfire threatening the power grid that supplies San Francisco
#8For anyone wondering what the relationship between wildfires in Yosemite and San Francisco proper, its worth a small comment. California's Sierra Nevada range is a couple hours east of SF. These mountains include the highest points in the continental US. Trapping most of the water from the east-west jet stream. The sierras hold massive amounts of high-quality water, which runs out of the non-porous terrain of the hig…
The SF water supply has some interesting politics:
https://www.baycitizen.org/news/water/raise-rent-hetch-hetch...
Re: Wildfire threatening the power grid that supplies San Francisco
#9For anyone wondering what the relationship between wildfires in Yosemite and San Francisco proper, its worth a small comment. California's Sierra Nevada range is a couple hours east of SF. These mountains include the highest points in the continental US. Trapping most of the water from the east-west jet stream. The sierras hold massive amounts of high-quality water, which runs out of the non-porous terrain of the hig…
I remember talking to one of the rangers at Yosemite, near one of the natural lakes that eventually supply water to SF. I remember him saying that he tells visitors who go answer nature's call at the lake to think twice, since they're going to be drinking this very water soon.
Just as astronauts on the ISS drink their own piss, it is nothing but in our minds.
Re: Wildfire threatening the power grid that supplies San Francisco
#10For anyone wondering what the relationship between wildfires in Yosemite and San Francisco proper, its worth a small comment. California's Sierra Nevada range is a couple hours east of SF. These mountains include the highest points in the continental US. Trapping most of the water from the east-west jet stream. The sierras hold massive amounts of high-quality water, which runs out of the non-porous terrain of the hig…
The SF water supply has some interesting politics: https://www.baycitizen.org/news/water/raise-rent-hetch-hetch...
I've read that when California's major water systems were built long ago there were explicit compacts between the urban and agricultural regions. The latter now see various actions as breaking that.