Save Palo Alto’s Groundwater is a citizens’ group organized through conversations among neighbors and families concerned with the environmental and property impact of the practice of “dewatering,” during the construction of residential basements.
Dewatering involves the pumping out of millions of gallons of groundwater when basements are built in areas with high water tables. This pumped water is then dumped into our storm drains and ends up in the San Francisco Bay. In 2016 alone, over 140 million gallons of groundwater was wasted to build eight residential basements.