Hetch Hetchy. Beautiful place. The lake is pristine, and there is never any fishing or boating of any kind. And it is huge! The hiking there above the lake is outstanding, and there are some awesome waterfalls.
If San Francisco had had its way in the day, they would have turned Yosemite Valley into a lake too. Luckily, they failed, and they nearly failed at claiming Hetch Hetchy. I don’t see how a city can go 200 miles across a bay, past another really big city, over some mountains,across a really huge valley, and into another range of mountains, and just dam a river and call it their own. I am totally against San Francisco owning a reservoir outside of their city limits.
All those lefty San Francisco liberals should get together and vote to let Hetch Hetchy go back to nature. It would nonly take 150 years for it to revert to its natural state. But lefties are selfish. They go by feelings, with their own feelings being the most important.
Too bad there’s no fishing or boating. Damned extremists rule. As for owning it, a city, like any incorporated entity can acquire and own land, that’s fairly mainstream law. You might want to check where NYC gets its water, Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, etc.
There is usually a large population center, and the water comes from elsewere via a delivery system. Many times it is all owned by the using city who has obtained rights to it.
As to 15 years, it would certainly not revert to any state John Muir would recognize. Silt, erosion, watermarks on the cliffs, etc.
In circa 1900, people indeed would wipe out the last buffalo, harvest every last redwood, dam up Yosemite valley, etc. But just because the west is full of things done back then that we might not do today doesn’t mean it should all be dismantled.
We shouldn’t dam up Yosemite, and we should maintain Hetch Hetchy just as it is.