The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) provides retail drinking water and wastewater services to the City of San Francisco, wholesale water to three counties in the San Francisco Bay Area, and green hydroelectric and solar power to the city’s municipal departments. For the past 13 years, we have provided as-needed environmental planning and permitting services to SFPUC as they’ve undertaken two significant infrastructure projects, ensuring each phase we’re involved in can move forward with confidence that the necessary regulatory obligations are being well-managed.
To ensure their water and wastewater systems are operating as needed, SFPUC has embarked on two major infrastructure programs. The first is a $4.8 billion, multi-year Water System Improvement Program (WSIP) to upgrade the SFPUC’s regional and local water systems to rehabilitate aging infrastructure and upgrade facilities to modern seismic standards. The program consists of 83 projects, spread over seven counties from the Sierra foothills to San Francisco. And the second is a Sewer System Improvement Program (SSIP)—a 20-year citywide investment to upgrade aging sewer infrastructure to ensure a reliable, sustainable and seismically safe sewer. The first phase of this program alone includes $2.9 billion for 70 grey and green infrastructure projects across the city.
FULFILLING REGULATORY OBLIGATIONS TO AID IN SUCCESSFUL PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION
With over 140 Task Orders conducted under four different master contracts, our team has provided a wide array of environmental and regulatory services to the SFPUC for these two programs ranging from CEQA/NEPA documentation, public outreach, and environmental compliance services during construction to specialized technical services like designing wetlands for the Habitat Reserve Program. We have completed the environmental documentation for recycled water and groundwater storage and recovery projects, water supply pipelines and reservoirs, wastewater treatment plant improvements, and combined sewer system rehabilitation. Extension of staff services have been another component of our work, as members of our team have acted as environmental project managers for several SFPUC projects. These efforts have played a significant part in helping these major programs come to fruition.
