(Image source from: Yosemite Wildfire targets water})

The blazing wildfire at Yosemite National Park is showing no signs of dousing yet. Just recently, it rained ashes on the reservoir, which is the chief source of drinking water in San Francisco. With the remains of the ruin slowly polluting the chief water source, the authorities are doing every thing in their power to channel more water towards the metropolitan before it's too late.

It took nearly 3,700 firefighters to fight this 230-square-mile blaze, the biggest wildfire on record in California's Sierra Nevada. But so far, they have managed to contain only 15 percent of the fire.

"We're not there yet, but we're starting to get a little bit of a handle on this thing," said Lee Bentley, fire spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service. "It's been a real tiger. He's been going around trying to bite its own tail, and it won't let go but we'll get there."

Utility officials are keeping a strict eye on the clarity of the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. They have employed a massive new $4.6 billion gravity-operated pipeline system to channelize more water quickly to reservoirs closer to the big city. The Hetch Hetchy supplies water to 2.6 million people in the San Francisco Bay area, 150 miles away.

"We're taking advantage that the water we're receiving is still of good quality," said Harlan Kelly Jr., general manager of the city's Public Utilities Commission. "We're bringing down as much water as possible and replenishing all of the local reservoirs."

At the same time, utility officials  assured the public that they have a six-month supply of water in reservoirs near the Bay area.

AW: Suchorita Dutta