Stanford uses about 2 million gallons of water every day, pumped from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. What would happen if that supply dried up?
University officials would like to avoid that problem. So Stanford is spending $5.5 million to build a 270-foot-wide, 6-million-gallon reservoir in the foothills near the Dish, just off a hiking trail close to the westernmost entrance to the open-space area. Planners chose the site because it has a natural bowl shape and sits 200 feet above campus -- high enough to allow natural pressure to force the water down pipes.
Builders have excavated a hole for the basin and have put down a layer of paving and a rubber membrane liner. Next, they will construct a roof for the reservoir. The Farm's only existing emergency reservoir -- about 1,000 feet east of the one under construction -- was built in the 1960s and holds 2 million gallons.
The new project began in June and should be finished by the end of the year. Hikers and joggers to the Dish are finding some pathways closed by construction crews. Officials say the site will be landscaped and will blend into the surroundings. "When we are done up there, it will not be very noticeable," says Steve Mischissin, associate director of facilities operation for utilities. But it will be useful -- just in case Stanford's water supply is ever disrupted.
