Reservoirs - in Progress
Estates Reservoir Replacement
Draft Environmental Impact Report
State Clearinghouse # 2008082060
East Bay Municipal Utility District, August 2009
The Contra Costa Water Company (CCWC), organized in 1866 by Anthony Chabot, Remi Chabot and Henry Pierce, was the first company to successfully provide an adequate water supply to Oakland. Over the next few years, construction began on a series of dams and reservoirs surrounding Oakland, and pipes were laid through the streets of Oakland. In 1872, the council began developing a plan for municipal ownership of the water supply, however the plan failed and ownership remained firmly in the hands of private companies (Hinkel and McCann, 1939:623-631).
The CCWC was the largest supplier of water in the Oakland area in the final years of the 19th century (Noble, 1999:3). When William J. Dingee, a real estate developer who owned acreage in the Montclair-Piedmont area, approached the CCWC about developing his property, however, they were unable to meet his needs (Noble, 1999:8-9). Dingee then took it upon himself to drill for water, and quickly became the CCWC's biggest competitor. Dingee piped his water from Moraga Peak to a reservoir in Piedmont and soon incorporated his operation as the Oakland Water Company (Noble, 1999:9). The competition between the CCWC and the Oakland Water Company became heated and soon newspapers reported that both companies were working to disrupt the others' supply. A rate war ensued. At the turn-of the-century, after a protracted battle, the two companies merged (Noble, 1999:10-11). The new company was known as the CCWC, but had William J. Dingee at the helm. The Estates Reservoir, initially known as Piedmont No. 1 Reservoir, was constructed in 1903 soon after the merger. To create the reservoir, a basin at the head of a small ravine was excavated into the existing bedrock and an earth fill dam was constructed at the west side (EBMUD, 2007a:3).
The new CCWC, headed by Dingee, lasted only until 1906, when the Peoples Water Company was created (Noble, 1999:11). The Peoples Water Company took in CCWC, the Richmond Water Company, and some smaller concerns. The Peoples Water Company immediately faced a challenge as the demand for water increased substantially in the early years of the 20th century. In November 1916, after struggling for ten years, the East Bay Water Company was incorporated "to bail out the sinking corporate ship of Peoples Water" (Noble, 1999:16). Like the private companies before it, East Bay Water Company inherited an uphill battle. Not only was demand from household consumers increasing, but World War I significantly increased the need for water in industrial applications (Noble, 1999:17).
By 1919, the Piedmont No. 1 Reservoir (Estates Reservoir), along with nine others throughout the East Bay, was being operated by the East Bay Water Company as either a filtration or a sterilization plant (Oakland Tribune, 1919:9). While the East Bay Water Company did its best to satisfy its customers, public opinion had shifted in favor of public ownership of utilities. In 1921, the legislature began the process of shifting from private to public control of water management and distribution and approved a bill that provided for the creation of municipal utility district. That district, EBMUD, was approved by voters on May 8, 1923 (Noble, 1999:21).
Improvements to the Oakland water supply system were undertaken in 1934 to support the growing demand for water. New, greater capacity lines replaced old, worn out mains, and storage works, pumping units and other structures were repaired (Hinkel and McCann, 1939:658). In 1937, an increase in residential building, particularly within the Oakland Hills area, and concomitant population increase, prompted the construction of additional storage tanks, and enlargement of pumping plants to distribute the water to higher elevations (Hinkel and McCann, 1939:671).
The Piedmont No. 1 Reservoir basin was enlarged and renovated between 1938 and 1939 (EBMUD, 2008a). On March 30, 1939, the Oakland Tribune reported that:
Reconstruction of Piedmont No. 1 Reservoir [Estates Reservoir] has been under way for several months and will be completed about May 1. The dam is being raised seven feet, a new parapet wall is being built, and the entire reservoir has been given a lining of concrete. With Dingee Reservoir, which is on the same level, it serves 18,000 customers.
A new 20-inch pipeline was also expected to be laid in the near future to replace an old pipe between Moraga Road and Estates Reservoir (Oakland Tribune, 1939:14B). According to EBMUD (2008b), the dam crest was raised approximately 9 feet, increasing the elevation from 765 feet above mean sea level to 774 feet above mean sea level. An engineering drawing for this reconstruction work shows that, in addition to the work reported in the Oakland Tribune, an oil macadam pathway along with a rubble masonry wall was constructed leading down to a structure described as the Montclair Booster Plant. A rubble masonry drain extended down the hill to a stilling basin near the
Chabot, with customary singleness of purpose and little foresight, secretly set up a corporation to not a acquire rights for a dam on San Leandro Creek, just range of hills. Slowly his system was over the first spreading its spindly web of mains through the settled
Its name was M. U. D.; the story of water as it has affected the ... urban complex on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay, with emphasis on the creation of the East Bay Municipal Utility District ..
by Noble, John Wesley
Publication date 1970
To meet some of the complaints, CCWC did install filtration systems at its San Leandro and Temescal plants in 1890, but it was only a stopgap. For all the network of mains creeping out through the towns, the water wasn't uniformly good, and the company simply couldn't serve everyone. Among those it had to turn down one day was a man named William J. Dingee, who wanted water to develop his acreage in the Montclair-Piedmont hill area. This refusal, as it turned out, was to be one of the most costly mistakes CCWC ever made and, ultimately, the best break Oakland and its sister cities could have got, for Dingee had both imagination and resources.
Unable to get company water, he proceeded to drill a series of tunnels into Moraga Peak, above Shepherd’s Canyon, and tapped an ancient reserve for 250,000 gallons a day. This he piped to a reservoir in Piedmont and, as he would explain later, inadvertently set himself up as the most powerful competitor CCWC was to have. Seeking to make his costly tunnels pay off, Dingee offered water service to his Piedmont neighbors only to learn CCWC had tied them up. Thereupon he looked down to the flatlands, which still were served haphazardly by CCWC, and announced he would bring them pure fresh water at reasonable rates. Incorporating as the Oakland Water Company, he laid pipes from his Piedmont reservoirs down the slopes all the way to Twenty-fifth Street, then acquired the Alvarado artesian fields and connected them to his mains. Homeowners huzzahhed, hopeful at last that competition would force water rates into line. The city fathers, equally frustrated by dealings with CCWC, welcomed the new company warmly and proceeded to grant it every favor.
[...]
The East Bay Water Company was incorporated November 13, 1916, to bail out the sinking corporate ship of Peoples Water. The new firm took over January 1 , 1917, under the presidency of Wiggington E. Creed, an able young Piedmont lawyer who, as special counsel for Peoples, had a fair idea of the perils of the game. While East Bay Water promised to "Provide water to any territory in Alameda and Contra Costa counties," Creed knew his main concern lay with the eight cities of Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Richmond, Piedmont, Emeryville, Albany, and San Leandro, sprawled like a patchwork across an area thirty-five miles long by two to five miles wide. In addition to Chabot and Temescal, the two dams then in service — with San Pablo building — he knew that the company could draw about 10,500,000 gallons a day from 117 wells. But with the population nearing the half million mark, Creed also recognized that, somehow, ways must be found to conserve fiveand-a-half billion gallons of water at once.
Blair Reservoir
The Estates Reservoir (Piedmont No. 1 Reservoir)
The Estates Reservoir, initially known as Piedmont No. 1 Reservoir, was constructed in 1903 soon after the merger.
Photographs From:
East Bay Municipal Utility District: Piedmont Reservoir No. 1, Piedmont, CA, 1962-1965
Collection:
Robert R. Royston Collection, 1941-1990
Contributing Institution:
UC Berkeley, Environmental Design Archives
Reservoir Two
Dingee Reservoir
DECISION No 182
PERCY G BETTS
VS PEOPLES WATER COMPANY
Case No 284
Decided August 16 1912
Percy G Betts a resident of what is known as the Claremont district in Berkeley living at 182 Alvarado road on July 2 1912 filed his complaint against Peoples Water Company alleging in brief that said company is engaged in furnishing water to the people of Berkeley and vicinity that complainant is one of its patrons that for more than three years last past defendant's supply of water to complainant for domestic use has been insufficient particularly during warm weather.
[...]
The district was referred to in the evidence as Zone 1 and derives its water from the Dingee reservoir which is located in the top of the hilly country east of Piedmont and from the intercounty tunnel between Alameda and Contra Costa counties. From these sources of supply four inch pipe lines run to a point of convergence in the Tunnel road where the diameter is six inches. Complainant and most of the other residents in this locality are served from four inch pipes which diverge from the Tunnel road main. Several years ago when the Claremont district was first opened up for building purposes the entire district was served from these two sources In 1910 as the population in the westerly portion of the district referred to as Zone 3 increased that zone was cut off from the system heretofore described and has thereafter been served from the Temescal reservoir In the same year a portion of the Garber water supply was diverted to the tanks in the rear of the Claremont hotel and used to supply what was referred to as Zone 2 lying between Zones 1 and 3.
Defendant's engineer testified without contradiction that the difficulty the first time was due to the fact that some person unknown to defendant had closed the gate at the Dingee reservoir so as to shut off the water running therefrom into Zone 1 that the second time the pipe line leading from the Dingee reservoir had been broken by a blast exploded by laborers working for the Oakland and Antioch Railway and that the third time this same pipe line was found to be almost clogged up by eucalyptus roots necessitating the replacement of the pipe.
Complainant testified that during the summer months three years ago the water was off every two or three weeks for from one to three days. The same condition existed during the next year. During this year complainant received no water on the dates hereinbefore specified Several of complainant's neighbors testified to the same effect All however admitted that since July 1 1912 the service has been excellent.
Estates Reservoir Replacement Project, Oakland, Alameda County, Draft EIR (#2008082060) by EBMUD, August 2009:
The Piedmont Reservoir is presently out of service and the Dingee Reservoir will be removed from service once the Project is constructed and in service.
Dingee Reservoir, also shown in Figure S-l, was originally constructed in 1894 and was modified twice, once for the construction of a new roof and lining (1931), and again for the construction a new curb which now parallels Estates Drive (1939). The dam is composed of fill, and cut into existing bed-rock material, but is not under the jurisdiction of DSOD. No other major improvements have been performed since 1939. Dingee Reservoir is located about a tenth of a mile from Estates Reservoir on Bullard Drive.
[...]
The seismic safety analysis shows that the dam at Dingee will perform satisfactorily when subjected to ground shaking from the maximum credible earthquake magnitude 7.25 on the Hay ward Fault. The results also indicate about two feet of slope deformation and less than one foot of crest settlement, as well as satisfactory performance of the upstream slope of the dam in case of rapid reservoir drainage. There are no known fault traces at the site. No improvements are proposed for the Dingee Reservoir, and it will be placed out of service once the replacement Estates Reservoirs are constructed and in-service.
More Information
Its name was M. U. D.; the story of water as it has affected the ... urban complex on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay, with emphasis on the creation of the East Bay Municipal Utility District ..
SYNDICATE WATER CO., Inc. 1-29-06. Supplied water to Piedmont and Claremont Districts. Purchased entire stock of Richmond Water Co. and developed additional wells in Town of San Pablo. Conveyed to Peoples Water Co. 1-2-07.
PIEDMONT SPRINGS POWER & WATER CO., Inc. 8-20-91. Developed tunnels and reservoir to supply Piedmont, conveyed to Oakland Water Co. 1-94.