City of Menlo Park Emergency Water Supply Project

This project will provide badly needed emergency backup potable and firefighting supply for the eastern portion of the City of Menlo Park. At present, 100% of potable water supply for this area is delivered via the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s Hetch Hetchy Aqueducts Nos. 1 and 2, which cross several active faults en route to the Bay Area. There is no water storage serving this part of Menlo Park; if Hetch Hetchy supply were interrupted by earthquake damage or another type of emergency a large part of the City could be without water for a protracted period pending repairs.  

Based on outcomes of a series of studies, the City had initially proposed construction of an underground reservoir and backup well along with extensive facilities upgrades at a small neighborhood park. In response to resident concerns about impacts on park use, the City tasked IEC with evaluating the feasibility, advantages, and disadvantages of a wells-only approach, which would use multiple sites but avoid the large footprint and longer construction duration associated with a reservoir. The analysis concluded that a wells-only project could meet the supply need, and the City is now moving ahead with this approach.

Public outreach and dialogue have been identified as cornerstones of project success. In addition to developing a range of hard copy and web-based outreach collateral for City use, IEC facilitated community workshops to gather public input for use in well siting. We then developed a site screening and ranking process that incorporates the community’s well siting criteria along with engineering and hydrologic factors. As the site selection process proceeds, IEC will assist with additional collateral materials and meetings; conduct a site-specific environmental constraints assessment as an input to site ranking and selection; assist the City in selecting preferred well sites and verifying their viability by drilling test wells; and develop a CEQA needs and approaches summary to assist the City in project planning and implementation.