YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK— President Bush’s federal budget sets aside money to study the benefits of draining and restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley, which provides water to 2.4 million residents in the San Francisco Bay area.

The president’s $2.9 trillion budget includes $7 million to “support Hetch Hetchy restoration studies” that would explore the environmental and recreational advantages of returning the valley, which lies within Yosemite National Park, to its natural state.

Federal studies would build upon a recent California Department of Water Resources analysis that found restoring the valley was technically feasible but would cost between $3 billion and $10 billion.

Environmentalists who favor Hetch Hetchy’s restoration praised the proposal, but it faces long odds in Congress where the idea has never found broad political support.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the San Francisco Democrat who serves on the Senate appropriations committee, said she will try to make sure the money isn’t in the final budget.

“We’re not going to remove this dam, and the funding is unnecessary,” she said in a statement.

The proposal only calls for studying the possible benefits of removing the O’Shaughnessy Dam but would not look at the impact on water supply or hydroelectric power generation.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which controls the reservoir and watershed, has argued that draining the valley would threaten the region’s water supply and rob the city of 20 percent of its electricity.

The dam and reservoir were built in 1923 to provide drinking water, irrigation and hydropower to the Bay Area and Central Valley.

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Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle