City of San Francisco, California

San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) is implementing multiple green infrastructure projects based on their Urban Watershed Assessment, which will identify green and grey sewer infrastructure improvements over the next twenty years. The Urban Watershed Assessment promotes progressive solutions considering unique characteristics of each of the City’s eight urban watersheds, such as soil type, underlying geology, age of infrastructure and urban development patterns. SFPUC monitored six green infrastructure projects from 2009 – 2015 in order to evaluate performance, best practices and develop design standards for future green infrastructure projects. The watershed-based planning process is being used to help plan the City’s Sewer System Improvement Program (SSIP), a multi-billion dollar project to upgrade aging infrastructure, and ensure the reliability and performance of the sewer system. Phase One of the SSIP, will construct, monitor and evaluate eight more green infrastructure projects to manage stormwater before it enters the combined sewer system. SFPUC's pilot projects were chosen based on high visibility and opportunities for community engagement in addition to stormwater management. By assessing community needs and educating San Francisco residents about watershed health and potential co-benefits, green infrastructure installations will be able to meet neighborhood needs as well as the SFPUC’s stormwater management objectives. The dialogue with citizens has helped to democratize the PUC’s capital planning process and to ensure that selected pilot projects reflect community priorities.

SFPUC is now partnering with local City departments, the San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on a new initiative, the Next Generation Urban Greening project, to design, plan and implement multi-beneficial green infrastructure projects in southeast San Francisco.