Great Race For Saving Water Slated For Saturday

PALO ALTO, CA -- The best way to honor a trail opening is to run on it.

That's precisely what Santa Clara Valley Water District plans to encourage in organizing the Great Race for Saving Water, a foot race scheduled at 8:40 a.m. Saturday on a section of the trail along the San Francisquito Creek.

The creek's Joint Powers Authority will celebrate with a ribbon cutting the reopening of trails closed to accommodate the San Francisquito Creek Flood Protection Project, which was designed to protect 5,700 homes and businesses subject to extreme tides with 2 feet of sea level rise. The trails from the San Francisco Bay to U.S. Highway 101 in Palo Alto and East Palo Alto have reopened for the public. The Great Race for Saving Water will head down a section of one of the trails.

The Great Race for Saving Water will take off at the Baylands Athletic Center located at 1900 Geng Rd. in Palo Alto.

Dignitaries on hand to commemorate the day include:

• Palo Alto Mayor Eric Filseth
• San Mateo County Supervisor David Pine
• Valley Water Director Gary Kremen of District 7 and San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority chairman