San Francisco’s green-grey infrastructure

Over the next 20 years, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) will spend around $2.7 billion upgrading its sewer system. Read how the city is ensuring it will be a mix of green and grey infrastructure.

By Robert C. Brears

SFPUC’s Urban Water Assessment is part of the city’s Sewer System Improvement Program, the city’s 20-year program to plan, identify, and build investment priorities in the city’s sewer system.

The Urban Watershed Assessment will shape the next generation of collection system projects (including the downspouts, streets, pipes, and green infrastructure elements that carry stormwater and sewage to the city’s treatment plants) by improving seismic reliability, managing stormwater, reducing odors, protecting water quality, and reducing flooding.

Overall, addressing these challenges now is more cost-effective than deferring them to when the system fails and poses a critical threat to the city. Integrating above and below ground solutions Unlike traditional plans of the past, the Urban Water Assessment will integrate above- and below-ground solutions including permeable pavement and rain gardens as well as sewer pipes and pump stations, with the ultimate goal of ensuring green and grey strategies work together for future generations.

The integrated green and grey […]

Full article: San Francisco’s green-grey infrastructure