Last week, the East Bay Municipal Utilities District, which serves the Danville/Alamo area and the northern portions of San Ramon, gave a heads-up to customers that its water will start to taste differently. The agency is shifting is intake at Pardee Reservoir in the Sierra foothills to a valve located nearer the surface of the water to preserve cold water deeper in the reservoir for releases in the fall to help endangered salmon.
Like the city and county of San Francisco, which blocked the Tuolumne River at Hetch Hetchy to create its water supply, EBMUD did the same on the Mokelumne River with the Pardee dam.
In addition to the shallower Pardee water that is subject to more algae growth, EBMUD also is tapping the Delta for an emergency water supply. It is filling two East Bay reservoirs with the Delta water, which amounts to a two-month supply.
The challenge for the district is, unlike Zone 7 in the Livermore Valley and the Santa Clara Valley water agency that have treatment plans designed for water that flows through the Delta, three of EBMUD's plants are designed to treat only the melted snow captured much nearer the source.
EBMUD notes that consumers can chill the water before drinking it and/or run it through a carbon filter.
In the case of each agency, their treatment facilities will ensure the water meets all federal and state health standards—it just will taste differently.
Sunset Development Co. purchased AT&T's former San Ramon headquarters in Bishop Ranch last year, at more than 1 million square feet the largest single office building in the western United States.
AT&T leased back a substantial portion of the building and Sunset has remodeled the rest and is seeking tenants.
The latest development is the reshaping of the former AT&T cafeteria in partnership with the Moana Restaurant Group. Moana will operate the Roundhouse Market in that space next year. It will include a taqueria, a pizzeria and a sandwich and salad bar. In addition, there will be a full-service American-style restaurant and a coffee bar.
The new restaurants will serve the 30,000 employees in Bishop Ranch as well as others who may want to drop in for lunch.
Sunset president and chief operating office Alexandra Mehran Jr. was quoted in the San Francisco Business Times, "San Ramon has been hungry for something different, and that's what inspired us to refresh the dining options within Bishop Ranch and partner with Moana Restaurant Group. Working with Moana — a creative company with outstanding credentials and a history of creating quality dining experiences — gives us the opportunity to reinvent the cafeteria environment as we replace it with the Roundhouse Market."
