Pulgas Water Temple
The Pulgas Water Temple is a stone structure in Redwood City, California, United States, designed by architect William G. Merchant. It was erected by the San Francisco Water Department to commemorate the 1934 completion of the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct and is located at the aqueduct's terminus; originally water flowed through a vault under the temple itself, but new requirements for treatment require it to be diverted to a plant nearby. The name comes from Rancho de las Pulgas, an early Spanish land grant. Pulgas is the Spanish word for "fleas". The grant was named as such because the main village of the Lamchin, the Ohlone tribe living in the San Carlos area before the Spanish settlers arrived, was called, "Cachanigtac." The name appears to contain a word for vermin, which the Spanish missionaries translated as Las Pulgas.
Temple
The permanent water temple was completed in 1938, replacing an original made largely of plywood.Designed by architect William Merchant and with carving by Albert Bernasconi, it consists of a circle of fluted Corinthian columns surmounted by a large masonry ring bearing the inscription "I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people" . There is a reflecting pool lined with cypress trees.
San Francisco and other Bay Area communities are supplied with water from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir approximately away via the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct. Originally, the water flowed over a small C-shaped waterfall within the Pulgas Water Temple itself and then continued for approximately down a canal to the west into Upper Crystal Springs Reservoir.