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The post Parkinson’s Basis to carry annual Transferring Day SF – NBC Bay Space appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

New details were recently announced about where exactly the new Nintendo store in San Francisco will be located.

Last month, the video game giant announced plans to open a new store in Union Square.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, city permits indicate that the new store will be located at 331 Powell Street, right next to the Westin St. Francis San Francisco.

The Powell Street space has been vacant for the past few years and previously housed BCBG and athleisure brand FILA.

The new Union Square location will be the second Nintendo store in the United States and the first on the West Coast. The other U.S. location is at Rockefeller Center in New York City.

Nintendo plans to open its new location in San Francisco next year.

The post Nintendo’s new SF retailer transferring into Union Sq. location – NBC Bay Space appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

A video circulating online showing a tow truck trying to attach itself to a car in San Francisco while the owner is driving it raises questions.

When he saw the strange sight, Jeff Ferland stopped near the corner of Montgomery and Bush Streets, calling it “very bizarre” and “very frightening.”

“I saw a Waymo with its hazard lights on and then I saw a tow truck pull up in front of me to tow it,” he said. “I thought, 'Oh, I'm going to see this one hook up to a broken down Waymo car and take off.' And then he walked up to the car next to it that had people in it and started loading it up. They started backing up and he started chasing them with the tow truck.”

Ferland took out his phone and filmed most of the incident.

“The most effective thing I can do now is to record it, because it's wrong,” he said.

Ferland said he had never seen anything like it.

“He had the thing down, he maneuvered the forks under the front tires, he kept backing after them with the forks down, and then when he wanted to drive off, as soon as he started driving off, he raised his arm,” Ferland said.

It all happened very quickly.

“The car behind them maneuvered around and overtook. At that point they had a clear path to escape the tow truck and they took advantage of that opportunity,” Ferland said.

City Attorney David Chiu said his office is investigating the incident.

“We are currently investigating this,” he said. “I also understand that the San Francisco Police Department is aware of this incident. We encourage the public to contact them if they have noticed anything about the behavior of this company.”

Earlier this year, Chiu announced that he had banned auto towing services and related companies, including Specialty Towing and Recovery, from doing business with the city.

The tow truck in the video had “Specialty Towing” written on the side, but it is unclear if it is the suspended company since several companies use “Specialty” in their name.

“Assuming this is Specialty Towing, this is the same towing company that our office previously suspended and barred from awarding city contracts,” Chiu said.

NBC Bay Area contacted the company listed on the tow truck's door by phone and email, but did not immediately receive a response.

The post Tow truck tries to latch onto shifting automotive in San Francisco – NBC Bay Space appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Helen Byrne, 94, has called the same San Francisco apartment for more than eight decades, having moved in with her father and sisters when she was 12.

Her Mission District neighborhood looks a lot different these days, but Byrne's apartment is practically a time capsule from a bygone era.

She still sleeps in her childhood room, where she now spends most of her time after a fall last year. She said she wanted to spend the rest of her life here, surrounded by her long-time friends and neighbors.

But Byrne's life was turned upside down when the four-unit building was purchased in 2020 by real estate investors operating through an LLC.

Now she and the building's other decades-long tenants are trying to fend off an eviction attempt they never expected, and they could potentially be evicted from their homes within weeks.

“It was a surprise to me, a shock to me actually, that I had to move away from here,” Byrne said. “Where should I go? I’m so used to this place.”

Byrne outlived the rest of her family and lives alone, but her neighbor Cecilia Matias helps look after her.

“Right now she is strong because of this building,” Matias said. “This apartment alone makes her feel at home.”

Matias has lived in the building herself for 40 years – the first apartment her family moved into after leaving the Philippines. She and Byrne have grown close over the years, almost like a family, they say.

“She was very good to me,” Byrne said. “She’s like a daughter to me.”

Cecilia's sister also lives in the building. This also applies to Anthony Martin, who lives with his wife and son, an Iraq war veteran. Because all of the tenants have lived in the rent-controlled building for decades, their rent is much lower than San Francisco's sky-high market rates.

This is also the reason why their new landlords have been trying to get them out of their apartments since they took over the building more than three years ago.

NBC Bay Area reviewed emails that Daniel Mytels, the manager of the LLC, sent to his lender as part of the eviction case, which outlined plans to clear the building from its inception, either through buyouts or evictions.

In a 2020 email, Mytels called the building “an almost unbelievably good value,” adding that the property is “encumbered with four long-term tenants paying a total of only about $3,800 in total rent per month.” So he outlined plans to lure tenants out and rent out the apartments at higher prices. Or, if necessary, sell the empty building.

By phone, Mytels told NBC Bay Area it was a terrible situation, but said tenants' current rent cannot cover the building's operating costs.

According to letters reviewed by NBC Bay Area, landlords initially offered tenants severance packages — essentially cash for keys — in the range of $70,000 to $85,000 per unit. Even more so when everyone in the building accepted the offer, but every tenant rejected it.

“I want to stay here for the rest of my life,” Byrne said. “I have all my friends and neighbors living here with me.”

Four months after the takeover bid was rejected, tenants were bombarded with notices saying the building's owners were invoking the Ellis Act, a law that allows landlords to evict their tenants if they leave the property for at least five Take years off the rental market. In the notices of termination they were given a notice period of four months plus a legally permissible extension of one year due to the age of the tenants.

“His goal here was speculation, pure speculation,” said Steve Collier, managing attorney for the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, a San Francisco nonprofit that combats the displacement of low-income residents.

In an email, the landlord's attorney, Raymond M. Yetka, said the owners were aware of the difficulties posed by the eviction, adding: “The owner initially attempted to award significant amounts of money to the tenants for the eviction pay. However, when all tenants refused, the landlord’s only option was to terminate the lease under the Ellis Act.”

Collier said the tenants didn't want to give up the fight, in part because Byrne had nowhere else to go.

“[The Ellis Act] is often used by speculators to empty buildings and then sell them at a higher value because the long-term rent control tenants are not in the building,” Collier said.

However, the owners' lawyer defended the move.

“The Ellis Act was created to address unintended consequences of local rent control laws and allow landlords to exit the rental market when rental prices make it impossible to function as a housing provider,” Yetka wrote in an email.

Instead of moving out, however, the tenants turned to the Tenderloin Housing Clinic for help. Their Ellis Act exit window has expired and they are now fighting an eviction lawsuit in court.

“I do not want [Byrne] to go somewhere else,” Matias said. “I told her, 'You think you don't have a family, but you do.' It's me. No matter what happens, I'll take care of you.' Even though we’re not related by blood, I feel like we’re closer.”

Even their neighborhood priest, who has known Byrne and the building's other residents for more than a decade, is there to help them.

“People are not just numbers to be discarded,” Father said. John Jimenez, priest of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. “It is wrong that this is happening. You shouldn’t have to lose the house that you’ve lived in all your life, paid your rent and done all the responsible things.”

When asked about future plans for the building, Yetka said, among other things: “…The most likely outcomes are a sale of the vacant property as a whole or conversion of the units into Tenants-in-Common-Interests (TIC) for sale to owner-occupiers.” “

Collier said the fate of Byrne and her neighbors could be decided in court soon, possibly in the next few days.

“She’s 94,” Matias said. “She has already lived her life. But let her be happy…in peace.

The post San Francisco condominium eviction struggle – NBC Bay Space appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

A 46-year-old plumber was arrested on murder charges after police said he picked up a steel gymnastics bar at a Bally's Total Fitness and attacked another club member, punching him in the head “multiple times” before dropping the equipment and leaving the scene.

South San Francisco Sgt. Tom Neary told NBC Bay Area that around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday night, Kenneth Osako picked up a steel bar similar to that of a lat pulldown machine and delivered a fatal blow to the other gym member.

The San Mateo County coroner identified the gym member as Diego Galindo, 43, of San Bruno.

Galindo was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where he died of his injuries Thursday, police said. Also on Thursday, a team of officers arrested Osako at a San Francisco plumbing construction site on Kansas Street after he agreed to surrender, Neary said.

It was unclear whether Osako was represented by an attorney. A legal representative for Bally's did not return a phone call Friday. Osako declined a request for an interview in prison.

Osako, whose mugshot shows a barbell piercing, was booked into the San Mateo County Jail on murder charges. He was not granted bail.

San Mateo County Assistant District Attorney Karen Guidotti said Friday morning that her office did not yet have the police report and that Osako would not appear in court until Monday at the earliest.

Neary said investigators interviewed people to determine the motive and whether Osako and Galindo knew each other. There were several witnesses in the gym who saw parts of the attack, police said.

An employee of Galindo's at Carneceria Pepa said Galindo and Osako only knew each other casually, and he described Galindo as a friendly guy who liked cars and motorcycles.

The suspect's father, Kenneth Osako Sr., said his son was a good child. He showed NBC Bay Area his son's room, which was filled with various over-the-counter pill bottles and fitness supplements.

“I just hope he calls us and tells us what happened,” he said.

When asked if he would support his son either way, Kenneth Osako Sr. replied: “No, if he is guilty, he is guilty. I don’t support anyone who is wrong.”

On Friday, everything seemed to be business as usual at the gym at 180 El Camino Real. Some members didn't even know about the brutal attack less than 48 hours beforehand.

“My coach acted like nothing happened,” Carlos Sosa Jr. told NBC Bay Area.

NBC Bay Area originally misidentified the weapon as a barbell. Neary said Friday that the fitness machine was “a weapon of opportunity.”

The post South SF Police – NBC Bay Space appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

A viral video showing a tow truck attempting to hook up to a car while the owner was driving it in San Francisco is raising questions.

Jeff Ferland stopped near Montgomery and Bush streets when he noticed the strange sight, calling it “very bizarre” and “very scary.”

“I saw a Waymo with hazard lights on and then I saw a tow truck maneuvering in front of me to tow it away,” he said. “I thought, 'Oh, I'll just watch this hook up with a broken Waymo car and take off.' And then he went to the car next to it that had people in it and started loading it. They started reversing and he started chasing them with the tow truck.

Ferland pulled out his cell phone and captured most of the incident on video.

“The most effective thing I can do now is record this because it is wrong,” he said.

Ferland said he had never seen anything like it.

“He had the piece down, he maneuvered the forks under the front tires, he continued to chase them backwards with the forks down, and then as he went to take off, as soon as he takes off, he raises his arm,” Ferland said.

Everything happened quickly.

“The car behind them maneuvered around and overtook. At that point they had a clear line of sight to escape the tow truck and they took it,” Ferland said.

Prosecutor David Chiu said his office is investigating the incident.

“We’re dealing with it right now,” he said. “I also understand that the San Francisco Police Department is aware of this incident. We encourage the public to contact them if they have observed anything related to this company’s conduct.”

Earlier this year, Chiu announced that he had banned car towing companies and affiliated companies from doing business with the city, including Specialty Towing and Recovery.

The tow truck in the video had “Specialty Towing” written on the side, but it is unclear if it is the suspended company as several companies use “Specialty” in their name.

“Assuming this is Specialty Towing, then this is the same towing company that previously moved our office to suspend and disbar from receiving city contracts,” Chiu said.

NBC Bay Area reached out to the company listed on the tow truck door by phone and email but did not immediately receive a response.

The post Tow truck tries to latch onto shifting automobile in San Francisco – NBC Bay Space appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants are expected to have one of the National League's best rotations by the end of April, and former Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray will join the group in the middle of the summer. But at least in the first week it's a kind of climbing exercise.

Three options remained in Arizona when the Giants returned to the Bay Area this week. Alex Cobb is weeks ahead of schedule in his rehab from hip surgery, but he's not quite ready to return to the big leagues just yet. Keaton Winn will play in a minor league game on Wednesday as he recovers from elbow discomfort at the start of training camp. Blake Snell will pitch this Friday, building on Sunday's three-inning outing, which was his first since signing a two-year deal with the Giants.

Winn could be an option as early as Monday in Los Angeles, which would be the fifth game of the season. In theory, Snell could be added to the roster as early as next Wednesday, although with an off day right after the season-opening road trip, it might make more sense to push him back for the home opener when he feels he's ready. The Giants have been tight-lipped about Cobb's schedule, but he's believed to be close.

The situation could result in the Giants only having three true starting pitchers on Opening Day. Mason Black appeared poised for a rotation spot until the others were ready, but the Giants moved him to minor league camp on Tuesday afternoon. Since Black is not on the 40-man roster, the Giants can bring him back early in the year if necessary.

The Giants also reassigned left-hander Juan Sanchez and outfielder Ismael Munguia. All three had strong starts, with Munguia winning the Barney Nugent Award, given to the player who is most impressive in his first big league camp.

“Both [Black and Sanchez] “Sometimes he threw a good pitch,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “We have a lot of tough decisions to make, but all of these guys also know they're just a phone call away. “Our guys know the 26-man roster means a lot more as the season goes on, so you've got to be ready. It could happen at any time.

The Giants also have plenty of other balls in the air.

Mike Yastrzemski's wife, Paige, is due to give birth to the couple's second child on Friday, and although Yastrzemski plans to play on Thursday, he will likely be on the paternity list for the remainder of the season-opening road series against the San Diego Padres.

Running out of options, Joey Bart met with Melvin after Tuesday's game. It's possible the Giants use him as a third catcher while they consider other roster moves. It would probably be easier to sneak Bart through waivers a few days into the season than in the next day or two when 29 other teams set their own rosters.

The Giants also need multiple 40-man spots. Nick Ahmed appears to be the Opening Day shortstop, and non-roster invitees Daulton Jefferies and Landen Roupp have been fighting for open bullpen spots.

San Francisco was still working on moves late Tuesday night and planned to fly to San Diego on Wednesday. As last year's last-minute addition of Matt Beaty showed, problems often arise until the very last minute.

Super provider

Tyler Fitzgerald took a quick first base lesson with Ron Wotus before the game and then landed at the position for the final three innings on Tuesday night. It's another glove for the young utility man, who now has experience in all four infield spots and can also play center field.

The front office and new coaching staff are excited about Fitzgerald, who showcased his speed-power combination in a cameo late last season. The roster lacks defensive versatility, and Fitzgerald's ability to now fill eight different spots may be why he gets the final backup spot.

Former first-rounder back on track?

Hunter Bishop was brought to San Francisco to join the group of minor league players who rounded out the roster for two exhibition games, although he did not appear in Tuesday's game. Bishop didn't play last season after Tommy John surgery on his throwing arm, but he said he was fully healthy and felt great about how his body and swing felt this spring.

It's been five years since the Giants made Bishop their first first-round pick under Farhan Zaidi and Michael Holmes, and he's had to watch as most of that first-round class has already reached the big leagues. However, it wouldn't be a surprise if Bishop was back on the radar this season. He is one of the organization's best athletes and even after years of battling injuries, he is still only 25 years old.

If Bishop starts in Double-A, he would be part of a very athletic outfield. Speedy centerfielder Grant McCray will begin his season there after hitting 14 home runs and stealing 52 bases in the High-A League last season.

New voices

The announcer for the first game of the year at Oracle Park was Carolyn “CJ” Silas, the longtime PA announcer for Cal Poly Baseball. Silas has more than 30 years of experience behind the microphone, including stints with the Blue Jays' Triple-A team and the Yankees' Double-A team.

The Giants announced earlier this month that they had parted ways with Renel Brooks-Moon, who had served in the role since the ballpark opened in 2000. They plan to change PA announcers early in the season while they look for a long-term solution.

Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast

The post Giants juggling plenty of transferring components earlier than finalizing Opening Day roster – NBC Sports activities Bay Space & California appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants are expected to have one of the National League's best rotations by the end of April, and former Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray will join the group in the middle of the summer. But at least in the first week it's a kind of climbing exercise.

Three options remained in Arizona when the Giants returned to the Bay Area this week. Alex Cobb is weeks ahead of schedule in his rehab from hip surgery, but he's not quite ready to return to the big leagues just yet. Keaton Winn will play in a minor league game on Wednesday as he recovers from elbow discomfort at the start of training camp. Blake Snell will pitch this Friday, building on Sunday's three-inning outing, which was his first since signing a two-year deal with the Giants.

Winn could be an option as early as Monday in Los Angeles, which would be the fifth game of the season. In theory, Snell could be added to the roster as early as next Wednesday, although with an off day right after the season-opening road trip, it might make more sense to push him back for the home opener when he feels he's ready. The Giants have been tight-lipped about Cobb's schedule, but he's believed to be close.

The situation could result in the Giants only having three true starting pitchers on Opening Day. Mason Black appeared poised for a rotation spot until the others were ready, but the Giants moved him to minor league camp on Tuesday afternoon. Since Black is not on the 40-man roster, the Giants can bring him back early in the year if necessary.

The Giants also reassigned left-hander Juan Sanchez and outfielder Ismael Munguia. All three had strong starts, with Munguia winning the Barney Nugent Award, given to the player who is most impressive in his first big league camp.

“Both [Black and Sanchez] “Sometimes he threw a good pitch,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “We have a lot of tough decisions to make, but all of these guys also know they're just a phone call away. “Our guys know the 26-man roster means a lot more as the season goes on, so you've got to be ready. It could happen at any time.

The Giants also have plenty of other balls in the air.

Mike Yastrzemski's wife, Paige, is due to give birth to the couple's second child on Friday, and although Yastrzemski plans to play on Thursday, he will likely be on the paternity list for the remainder of the season-opening road series against the San Diego Padres.

Running out of options, Joey Bart met with Melvin after Tuesday's game. It's possible the Giants use him as a third catcher while they consider other roster moves. It would probably be easier to sneak Bart through waivers a few days into the season than in the next day or two when 29 other teams set their own rosters.

The Giants also need multiple 40-man spots. Nick Ahmed appears to be the Opening Day shortstop, and non-roster invitees Daulton Jefferies and Landen Roupp have been fighting for open bullpen spots.

San Francisco was still working on moves late Tuesday night and planned to fly to San Diego on Wednesday. As last year's last-minute addition of Matt Beaty showed, problems often arise until the very last minute.

Super provider

Tyler Fitzgerald took a quick first base lesson with Ron Wotus before the game and then landed at the position for the final three innings on Tuesday night. It's another glove for the young utility man, who now has experience in all four infield spots and can also play center field.

The front office and new coaching staff are excited about Fitzgerald, who showcased his speed-power combination in a cameo late last season. The roster lacks defensive versatility, and Fitzgerald's ability to now fill eight different spots may be why he gets the final backup spot.

Former first-rounder back on track?

Hunter Bishop was brought to San Francisco to join the group of minor league players who rounded out the roster for two exhibition games, although he did not appear in Tuesday's game. Bishop didn't play last season after Tommy John surgery on his throwing arm, but he said he was fully healthy and felt great about how his body and swing felt this spring.

It's been five years since the Giants made Bishop their first first-round pick under Farhan Zaidi and Michael Holmes, and he's watched the majority of that first-round class already reach the big leagues. However, it wouldn't be a surprise if Bishop was back on the radar this season. He is one of the organization's best athletes and even after years of battling injuries, he is still only 25 years old.

If Bishop starts in Double-A, he would be part of a very athletic outfield. Speedy centerfielder Grant McCray will begin his season there after hitting 14 home runs and stealing 52 bases in the High-A League last season.

New voices

The announcer for the first game of the year at Oracle Park was Carolyn “CJ” Silas, the long-time PA announcer for Cal Poly Baseball. Silas has more than 30 years of experience behind the microphone, including stints with the Blue Jays' Triple-A team and the Yankees' Double-A team.

The Giants announced earlier this month that they had parted ways with Renel Brooks-Moon, who had served in the role since the ballpark opened in 2000. They plan to change PA announcers early in the season while they look for a long-term solution.

Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast

The post Giants juggling a lot of shifting elements earlier than finalizing Opening Day roster – NBC Sports activities Bay Space & California appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Five people were injured in San Francisco Wednesday when an AC Transit bus rammed into another AC Transit bus, crashed into an occupied vehicle, careened onto a sidewalk, and stopped between a high-rise building and some scaffolding, “narrowly missing” traffic light poles, police said.

The bus was traveling northbound near Fremont and Folsom streets at the time of the crash, which was reported around 9:25 a.m., Officer Robert Rueca told reporters.

The five people who were sent to area hospitals include the drivers of both buses, a bus passenger and a passenger in a private vehicle, according to AC Transit spokesman Robert Lyles. 

“We wanted to transport them as quickly as possible, knowing that the traffic in the area was going to get heavy and that their health was our biggest concern,” Rueca said.

One of the five victims appears to have taken themselves to the hospital at some point after the collision, Lyles said.

Passengers aboard the bus said the entire experience lasted between 15 and 20 seconds, but it felt like an eternity.

“We were crossing Folsom, and we felt a couple of sharp jolts and I thought maybe they were pumping their brakes,” said Dave Zemke. “But then we hit something really big.”

That big bump was another bus. The green vehicle only came to a stop after hitting the scaffolding of a building on the 200 block of Fremont Street.

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There is an AC transit bus on the sidewalk on Fremont St btwn.Folsom &Howard. Passengers tell me driver passed out, hit another bus and pole pic.twitter.com/TqFvvskRa8

— Sam Brock (@SamNBCBayArea) September 27, 2017

A commuter seated near the front of the bus said the driver appeared to be on the verge of passing out.

The driver “started coming down” the hill, Carrie Murphy said, “and you know how the buses line up, and there’s like a passing lane and she tried to ask one of the other bus drivers to let her in because she wasn’t feeling well.”

Rueca said that the bus didn’t hit any pedestrians on the 200 block of Fremont Street, otherwise the crash could have been much worse. 

“There was a gentleman who I was talking to that said he was walking down the sidewalk, looked back, saw the bus approaching and jumped into a planter and actually watched as the bus went over!” Zemke said.

Traffic in downtown San Francisco was “heavily impacted” for several hours because the buses couldn’t be moved until police officers had processed the scene of the collision, said Rueca.

For hours after the crash, crews removed the scaffolding above the bus one piece and pipe at a time. Two tow trucks were then needed to hoist the bus from the pavement. 

The crash closed the Fremont/Folsom Street and Harrison Street off-ramps from Interstate 80, but both have since reopened, Rueca said. As of around 4 p.m., the only remaining street closure was on the section of Fremont Street between Folsom and Howard streets.

Rueca said it is too early to comment on the cause of the crash. An investigation is ongoing.

AC Transit buses typically traverse the city “safely,” he said. “This is a rare occurrence.”

Lyles said AC Transit has collected video from the involved buses and is checking to see if any San Francisco city buses in the area have video that might be helpful.

“We’re very grateful that the injuries were limited, and that there weren’t more bystanders or pedestrians involved in this,” Lyles said. “We are investing considerable energy and effort into trying to ascertain exactly what happened.”

Lyles said that Fremont Street was cleared fairly quickly and buses on the popular Transbay bus line were able to regain access to the San Francisco terminal by around 1 p.m.

The post AC Transit Bus Crash That Injured 5 in Downtown San Francisco Is Below Investigation – NBC Bay Space appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

The drought has Californians feeling the pressure to conserve water, but some century-old pipes may be thwarting these efforts. The government’s bank account is also running dry trying to fix it.

Leaking water pipes lose an estimated ten percent of the bay’s potable water every year.

Many of the system’s pipes have aged well beyond their expected retirement, causing an average of three breaks every day in the entire Bay Area and tens of millions of gallons of water lost. Local water companies have beefed up their proactive replacement efforts, but with 5000 thousand miles of pipes from the north bay to San Jose, it’s tough to keep up.

Old City, Old Pipes

San Francisco has many historical buildings- and that means historical pipes. Out of the 1,200 miles of pipe running under its streets, about 20 percent of that is over a century old.

JB Alegiani’s 120-year-old San Francisco house had a leak earlier this month from the water main that dates back to 1883. He didn’t have full water pressure for several days while crews fixed it.

“Here in San Francisco, we definitely have an aging infrastructure,” Alegiani said. “And now that we have a drought and it’s the new normal, we’re going to have to really change our policies as to how we look at water.”

According to the city’s public utilities company (PUC), leaks like that at Alegiani’s house cause the loss of 3 to 8 million gallons of San Francisco water every day. That’s a rate of 4 to 8 percent of the 70 million gallons of water San Franciscans use each day.

NBC Bay Area followed a repair crew for a day as they fixed leak after leak.

At one point, crews dug out a broken cast-iron water main first installed in 1863- pipe first put in the ground during the Civil War.

“Some of those pipes are in pretty good shape, but a lot of them are brittle,” said Katie Miller, who oversees water distribution at San Francisco PUC.

Miller says the PUC replaces 15 miles of pipes each year at a cost of $40 million. Miller says this rate will have to get more aggressive soon.

“If we don’t invest, it will cost us a lot more in the long run,” Miller said. “Even though we have 100 to 120 breaks a year, it’s far lower than a lot of other cities.”

Gallery: Historical Bay Area Pipes Still in Use

Materials Matter

Across the bay, East Bay Municipal Utilities District oversees the delivery of water to 1.3 million customers in 28 different cities. The system has 4,200 miles of pipe, more than three times the amount in San Francisco. Last year alone, East Bay MUD had 800 breaks.

“One of our goals is to keep that leak rate stable,” Xavier Irias, Director of Engineering and Construction, told the Investigative Unit. “With an aging population of pipe, that means we really need to keep on the pipeline replacement.”

The pipes are made with different materials, depending when they were installed.

According to Irias, the oldest pipes in the system are made of cast-iron and were installed in the 1800s. Now, some 150 years later, they cause the most leaks of any type in East Bay MUD’s system.

“Half of the leaks are cast-iron even though it is only about one third of the total population of pipes. That’s partly just because it’s older. It’s prone to corrosion,” Irias said.

However, the newer pipes have problems too. In the 1950s and 1960s, the East Bay switched to asbestos cement.

Getty Images

“The cast-iron, while it may be breaking, it’s older, but the [asbestos cement] doesn’t seem to last nearly as long as cast-iron,” Irias told the Investigative Unit. “We do anticipate those leak rates are going to go up with time and actually that’s what we’ve seen in the last few years as we started taking a really close look at [asbestos cement].”

San Jose’s pipe system is younger but still prone to leaks. The area’s largest provider, San Jose Water Company, had 182 breaks last year. On average, the broken pipes were 55-years-old.

New Technology

East Bay MUD has a team of six leak investigators whose only job is to proactively uncover leaks using new technology. The teams use sound-sensitive machines to precisely detect where unseen leaks start underground in order to replace them sooner and minimize water loss.

Irias says the drought seems to be causing even more leaks that can be hard to detect. He says a drought can cause the earth to contract and that can cause abnormal stress on the water delivery pipes.

“As that soil dries, it shrinks. So if there was a pipe, that maybe without the drought, would have failed in the next couple of years, the drought just gives it that extra nudge and it breaks early,” he said.

The sound-sensitive technology can help discover those leaks deep underground.

East Bay MUD currently replaces about 10 miles of pipe per year, up from seven miles per year several years ago. But officials admit they need to start replacing 40 miles per year just to keep up. It costs about $2.4 million a mile to replace water deliver pipes.

Replace Sooner, Pay Less Later

Post-doctorate researchers at UC Berkeley’s Water Resource Center, Jennifer Stokes and Tommy Hendrickson, have been looking for ways to make water systems more energy efficient.

They found that cities can save more money in the long run if they spend on pipe replacement sooner.

“If you were able to maintain lower leak rates, it was going to be more cost effective to dramatically increase your pipe replacement rate than to keep up with these 100-200 a year replacement levels we see across California,” Dr. Hendrickson said. “Eventually somebody is going to have it pay for it.”

“Some of these infrastructure systems are massive,” said Dr. Jennifer Stokes. “It takes a long time to put them in place, and if we go into it without a lot of planning we could find ourselves in a really tough situation in 10 or 20 or 30 years.”

Increasing the replacement rates in cities across the country could cost as much as a trillion dollars in taxes and higher water rates.

“If we don’t start that investment process now we could be in big trouble,” said Dr. Hendrickson.

California congressman, Jared Huffman, is proposing legislation this year to force congress to spend more money on this problem now.

“We’re going to have to try to get to get ahead of this,” said Congressman Huffman, who represents Marin County and serves on the US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. “If we don’t update and modernize that infrastructure, we’re going to see massive failures.”

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