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The
Committee to Save Lake Merced |
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The Committee to Save Lake Merced is an unincorporated association formed in late 1993 by a group of individuals representing groups using the lake for recreation. Those groups included the Pacific Rowing Club and St. Ignatius College Preparatory high school rowing programs, the Dolphin Club, and the then concessionaire at the lake. The Committee's mission was to investigate the causes for the decline in the lake's water levels and to work to reverse that decline. Early on the Committee determined that a primary cause of the decline was uncontrolled over-pumping of water from the aquifer underlying the lake. Throughout 1994 and 1995 the Committee organized a number of public meetings at the lake, with the purposes of educating the public and urging responsible public officials to take action to reverse the decline in lake levels, and in particular to find ways to reduce pumping from the aquifer. In 1995 the Committee worked closely with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and others, with the result being adoption of SFPUC Resolution 95-0082. That Resolution called for three private golf courses near the lake to work with Daly City to develop a supply of recycled water to replace the aquifer water being used by the golf courses. The Resolution also directed SFPUC staff to work with Daly City and other municipal pumpers to initiate a program of "in lieu" water supply under which in some years SFPUC would provide additional water to the municipalities, which they would use in lieu of aquifer water. The Committee is pleased that both those objectives have been achieved. In 1996 the Committee intervened in a proceeding before the California Coastal Commission relating to a proposed new golf course in the vicinity of the lake. At the Committee's urging the Coastal Commission conditioned its approval of the golf course upon the agreement of the golf course to use recycled water. The golf course was never built for reasons unrelated to the Coastal Commission action. In 2001 and 2002 the Committee initiated three law suits in San Mateo County, all related to San Mateo County's failure to apply the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act when issuing permits for wells to be drilled in the county. The last of those suits resulted in a favorable settlement with the County. The County agreed that any permit for a large well in the aquifer underlying Lake Merced would be issued only after applying the provisions of CEQA. The Committee intends to continue to work with appropriate government agencies, environmental groups and other organizations, including Friends of Lake Merced, CalTrout, and the Lake Merced Task Force, to seek a permanent and environmentally sound solution to the water level problem at Lake Merced.
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