Ever consider how water gets into your house? It’s available whenever you want it. All you have to do is go to a faucet, turn it on, and PRESTO! You have a nice cool glass of water. Would you like to know how that is possible? Please read on…



Let’s start at the beginning of that glass of water’s journey to your house. The City of Daly City purchases about ½ of it’s water from San Francisco, whose watersheds include Hetch Hetchy in the north of Yosemite National Park, and those locally along Crystal Springs, the large body of water next to Highway 280 in San Mateo. The remaining ½ of our supply comes from local groundwater wells.



As this large pipe (60") passes through our city, we connect to it in various locations through out the city. From these connections, we move the water in smaller pipes (12") to our pump stations.



From these pump stations, we add disinfectant and pump the water to the water mains in the street, through out the city and onto storage reservoirs built at various elevations in our community.



Through these water mains, the water is transported to a water service. This pipe connects the water main to your house. On the end of the water service is a water meter. The meter calculates how much water you use. From the meter the water travels into your house through your home’s plumbing.



And now you have your glass of water! That took a little bit of doing to get it to you, didn’t it? There are some other components to the water system besides what it took to get you that glass of water.From the pump stations, we also pump water to fill reservoirs.



These reservoirs store large quantities of water not only for residential and commercial drinking use, but as well as fire protection. When fire protection is mentioned, you probably don’t think about the water department do you? That’s okay, we are the fire department’s "silent partner"The water mains in the street also supply water to all the fire hydrants and localized sprinkler systems in the city. It is our responsibility to maintain these hydrants so that they are in proper working order at all times and to make sure they have the proper pressure and water supply to fight fires when needed.

From the pump stations to the water meter at your house, the water mains have valves along their route. These valves help us to shut off the flow of water in time of emergencies and scheduled repairs. The valves are located at almost every corner on every street in the city. We routinely open and close these valves to ensure their operation. Just as you can shut off the water after you get that glass of water; we can shut a valve in the street to shut off the water to a leaking water main or fire hydrant



So there is a lot more to that glass of water than you thought, isn’t there? This is the kind of work that we do at the Department of Water and Wastewater Resources. We supply the City of Daly City with all of its water needs. We are there for you 24 hours a day, rain or shine.