text: sunol water temple the sunol water temple is located at 505 paloma way in sunol , california . designed by willis polk , the 59 foot high classical pavilion is made up of twelve concrete corinthian columns and a concrete ring girder that supports the conical wood and tile roof . inside the temple , water originally from the pleasanton well fields and arroyo de la laguna flowed into a white tiled cistern before plunging into a deeper water channel carrying water from the filter galleries to the niles aqueduct in niles canyon and across san francisco bay near the dumbarton bridge . the roof covering the cistern has paintings depicting indian maidens carrying water vessels . the temple is open to the public monday to friday , 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. history since the mid - 19th century a private company , the spring valley water company ( svwc ) , owned much of the alameda creek watershed and had held a monopoly on water service to san francisco . in 1906 , william bowers bourn ii , a major stockholder in the svwc , and owner of the giant empire gold mine , hired willis polk to design a " water temple " atop the spot where three subterranean water sources converge ( a pipe from the arroyo de la laguna , alameda creek , through the sunol infiltration galleries , and a 30 - inch pipeline from the artesian well field of pleasanton ) some sources claim bourn wanted to sell the water company to the city of san francisco and saw the temple as a way to appeal to san francisco voters , who would have to approve the purchase ( municipal efforts to buy out the svwc had been a source of constant controversy from as early as 1873 , when the first attempt to purchase it was turned down by the voters because the price was too high ) . other sources claim that as one born into wealth and classically educated , bourn was partially motivated by a sense of civic responsibility . polk 's design , modeled after the ancient temple of vesta in tivoli , italy , was constructed in 1910 ( tivoli is where many of the waters that fed rome converged in the foothills of the apennines ) . prior to the construction of the hetch hetchy aqueduct , half of san francisco 's water supply ( 6 million gallons a day ) passed through the sunol temple . the svwc , including the temple , was purchased by san francisco in 1930 for $ 40 million . for decades the water temple received many visitors and was a popular location for picnickers . by the 1980s the water temple had badly deteriorated , and was severely damaged in 1989 's loma prieta earthquake , leading some community leaders to call for its demolition . the site was closed to the public because of safety concerns . a community effort led to the temple 's restoration from 1997 to 2001 , at a cost of $ 1 . 2 million , including seismic and accessibility upgrades . following its restoration the temple opened again to the public . today any water that flows through the temple is not part of the potable water supply . fields adjacent to the temple belong to the city of san francisco which has authorized the digging of a gravel quarry on the site . local residents concerned about the temple 's future brought a lawsuit to attempt block the quarry project , but eventually ran out of funds and dropped the suit . in june 2006 , a new facility named the sunol agricultural park was opened on a site adjacent to the temple . the park provides space for small businesses and nonprofit groups to grow produce and is a project of a non - profit called sustainable agriculture education ( sage ) . the park serves a platform for service and educational programs related to sustainable agriculture and environmental conservation . inscription " i will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry lands springs of water . [ isaiah 41 : 18b ] the streams whereof shall make glad the city . [ psalms 46 : 4 ] [ spring valley water company 1910 ] "