Emergency water well meeting tonight, reminding us to ask: Do you know where your water comes from?

The City of Menlo Park is holding a public meeting tonight (9/9) at 6:30 pm at the Burgess Recreation Center to get input about the placement of three emergency water wells. The wells are necessary, according to the City, to serve customers of the Menlo Park Municipal Water District – residents who live in  Sharon Heights and some areas east of El Camino – if a major disaster disrupts service from MPMWD’s source water.

Menlo Park is served by three different water companies. MPMWD is part of the City’s Department of Public Works and serves about one-third of  Menlo’s population. The MPMWD owns and operates its distribution system and purchases water from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. Approximately 94% of this water is supplied from the Hetch Hetchy watershed, and the remainder is supplied from the Alameda watershed.

The O’Connor Track Cooperative Water District serves an area within the “Willows” neighborhood. The water comes from wells and has a high mineral content.

Residents of central Menlo Park and Atherton are served by California Water Service – Bear Gulch District, which also uses Hetch Hetchy water.