Lake Merced

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Lake Merced.

Lake Merced is a freshwater lake in the southwest corner of San Francisco, California. It is surrounded by three golf courses (the private Olympic Club and San Francisco Golf Club, and the public Harding Park Golf Club), as well as homes, Lowell High School, San Francisco State University, Fort Funston and the Pacific Ocean.

Once owned by Francisco De Haro, first Alcade of Yerba Buena, as part of the Galindo ranch.

The Spring Valley Water Company bought the water rights for the Lake in 1868, and the surrounding watershed in successive years[1]. By purchasing all local supply, the company created a monopoly on San Francisco's water. It was not until 1908, when the city approved construction of O'Shaughnessy Dam creating the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, that the city gained municipal control. Around this time, Spring Valley sold off its holdings on Lake Merced, making way for the golf courses that exist today.

The lake is fed by an underground spring, and at one time it did have an outlet to the ocean. The salt level was always fluctuating, and therefore some species of fish which inhabit the lake are salt and freshwater adapted.