Even before the establishment of Yosemite National Park, the city of San Francisco began considering the Tuolumne River and Hetch Hetchy Valley as a possible location for a reliable water source.

John Muir, a naturalist and president of the Sierra Club, fought vigorously against the proposition of flooding the valley, stating, "Dam Hetch Hetchy!

Proposition F,[3] which would've allocated money to identify other sources of water with a stated goal of restoring the valley went before San Francisco voters in November 2012.

In 2015, Restore Hetch Hetchy sued San Francisco, arguing that the continuing existence of the dam and reservoir is a violation of the California Constitution's prohibition against any "unreasonable method of diversion".

[6][7] Beginning in 2018, the Department of the Interior of the Trump administration began to consider a proposal initiated by RHH and California Trout to allow limited boating on the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir for the first time, with representatives of the two organizations arguing that "San Francisco received [Hetch Hetchy's] benefits long ago, but the American people have not.