Stormwater Guidelines

Stormwater Guidelines and Calculator

Printable Version

Click here to view the SFPUC and Port’s Stormwater Management Ordinance. The Stormwater Management Ordinance is effective as May 22nd, 2010.

The San Francisco Stormwater Design Guidelines (Guidelines) describe the requirements for stormwater management in San Francisco and give developers the tools to achieve compliance. The Guidelines were adopted by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission on January 12, 2010.

Stormwater Design Guidelines Documents

• Stormwater Design Guidelines – January 2010
• Appendix A: Stormwater Best Management Practice (BMP) Fact Sheets
• Appendix B: Separate Sewer Area BMP Sizing Calculators – Water Quality (PC version, Mac version)
• Appendix B: Separate Sewer Area BMP Sizing Calculators – completed example pdfs
• Appendix B: Combined Sewer System BMP Sizing Calculator – Quantity Control
• Appendix C: Stormwater Control Plan Application
• Appendix D: Vegetation Palette

Calculation Information

• Design Storms: 1-year and 2-year 24-hour Design Storms
• SFPUC Accepted Hydrologic Calculation Methods
• CSS BMP Sizing Calculator – Sizing Approach: Coming Soon!
• CSS BMP Sizing Calculator – Comment Sheet (Comments appreciated by June 1st, 2011)

Urban Watershed Stewardship Grant Program

Dear Stormwater Enthusiast,

We are pleased to announce the schedule for our Urban Watershed Stewardship Grant Program, spring 2011 cycle!

The SFPUC’s Urban Watershed Management Program has partnered with the City’s Community Challenge Grant Program to offer grants for community-based projects which help manage the city’s stormwater using green infrastructure. The grants are based on the idea that small actions by San Francisco community members can add up to large benefits for San Francisco’s watersheds and sewer infrastructure.

The grants support the planning, construction and maintenance of low impact design (LID) based stormwater management facilities. Projects harvest rainwater, remove impervious surfaces, or implement other green infrastructure like bioswales and rain gardens. In addition to managing stormwater, projects beautify neighborhoods, provide recreational opportunities, and educate residents about the city’s water and wastewater systems.

Critical dates for the Spring 2011 grant cycle are listed below:

Grant Cycle Opens: Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Grant Application Deadline: Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Note that the updated guidelines and application for the Spring 2011 grant cycle will not be posted until the cycle officially opens on March 9th.  However, you can view the guidelines from previous cycles here: http://www.sfgsa.org/index.aspx?page=4264

You can view a list of previously funded projects here: http://sfwater.org/detail.cfm/MC_ID/14/MSC_ID/361/C_ID/5239/ListID/1

The Community Challenge Grant Program and the SFPUC will also be holding a Grant Application Workshop to describe the programs and answer questions on Tuesday, March 15th from 5:30-6:30pm:

CCG Grant Application Workshop

Tuesday, March 15th from 5:30 – 6:30pm

City Hall, Room 370

If you have additional questions about the Watershed Stewardship Grant Program, please contact Rachel Kraai at rkraai@sfwater.org

Please spread the news about this funding opportunity far and wide!

Bike lanes on 17th street

http://sf.streetsblog.org/2011/02/11/eyes-on-the-street-sfmta-crews-begin-striping-17th-street-bike-lanes/

Bicyclists have begun taking advantage of the new bike lanes being installed this week along the western section of the 17th Street corridor, with many riders saying they began feeling a greater sense of safety just as soon as the first stripes were laid down by Wednesday from Valencia to Church Streets.

In interviews with Streetsblog, several people on bikes roundly cheered the improvements, described as simply “fantastic” by one rider. “It’s really nice because we always bike on 17th Street and the [car] traffic is not that high,” said another traveler trying out the new lanes with a partner.

“Improvements on 17th Street will help the fast-growing number of people bicycling between the Castro, Mission and Potrero neighborhoods,” said San Francisco Bicycle Coalition executive director Leah Shahum. “There are so many families with children riding bicycles in these areas already, and this new bike lane will help welcome even more people of all ages onto their bicycles.”

SFMTA counts show a 75 percent increase in bike traffic on 17th Street at Valencia from 2006-2010, according to Shahum. The long-awaited project comes as part of the San Francisco Bike Plan, which is currently being put into action after a four-year bike injunction delay.

While SFMTA crews have begun work along the roughly two-mile stretch from Corbett Avenue to Kansas Street, bike lanes between Church and Sanchez are temporarily on hold as planners try to figure out a solution that addresses safety concerns about the streetcar tracks, according to the SFMTA Sustainable Streets Division’s Mike Sallaberry.

(more details and maps)

House Passes Seventh Extension of Transportation Bill

by Tanya Snyder on March 2, 2011

Just in the nick of time, the House has passed an extension of the current transportation law. The sixth extension of SAFETEA-LU was set to expire this Friday.

The extension is not expected to face any problems in the Senate.

Although the House has been cutting every expenditure it can get its hands on, it can’t get its hands on the bulk of the surface transportation program, since it’s funded out of the dedicated Highway Trust Fund (in the process of being renamed the Transportation Trust Fund). This extension passed the House 421-4.

(read the rest of the story)

WERF Research Examines the Economic, Environmental Benefits of Food Waste Management

Opportunities from the PUC from a member of the Citizen’s Advisory Committee.

The storage, preparation, and consumption of food all contribute to the generation of food waste. A new WERF study will examine the economic, environmental, social and operational considerations of food waste management as part of domestic wastewater treatment operations. This project is part of ongoing WERF research into co-digestion under OWSO5R07, Co-digestion of Organic Wastes with Wastewater Solids. The food waste study is scheduled for completion in spring 2011.

Food waste is a significant part of domestic wastewater, from residential food preparation, including disposers used by homeowners, restaurant discharges into sewers, and co-digestion, which is primarily focused on institutional and commercial food waste trucked directly to digesters. Food waste comingled in domestic sewerage operations augments organic matter with sewage sludge which may improve digestion and boost methane production.

A CDM research team will examine food waste transport to the wastewater treatment plant via direct injection of trucked-in food waste and food waste transported to the treatment plant in sewers after being introduced through a kitchen grinder. For comparison, food waste disposed in landfills or part of green compost will be assessed for its carbon footprint and environmental impact.

Researchers will also evaluate the behavior of food waste through a generically configured treatment plant that uses raw water screening and grit removal, primary clarification, activated sludge treatment for carbonaceous BOD removal, hypochlorite disinfection of treated effluent, solids thickening, anaerobic digestion with cogeneration, biosolids dewatering, and biosolids land application. The assessment will provide a consistent basis to identify which food waste management practice is “greener” and what factors affect the best practice over the life cycle of each management alternative.

For more information on this research, please contact WERF Program Director Lauren Fillmore. Water Environment Research Foundation.

(online story)

The Relationship between advertising and fiscal constraints

From San Francisco Beautiful, 19 January 2010

The sum of dollars received per year from all advertising ranges from $22 to $25 million (including BART-operated advertising in Muni Metro stations), a large enough amount to be an integral part of the Metropolitan Transportation Agency’s revenues, according to Ms. Bose, CFO of SF Municipal Transportation Agency.

However, targeting income from contracts with Titan and Clear Channel as a measure to clean up the proliferation of advertising is the wrong approach according to Ms. Bose. She stated the main problem with funding MUNI is the lack of a direct source of guaranteed funds – no tax, fee or other revenue-generating options are earmarked exclusively for the Agency. Furthermore, no singular policy board governs all facets of the system. The San Francisco County Transportation Authority (TA) is responsible for capital improvements, and the MTA is responsible for operating the transportation services. As a result, the TA may fund transit improvements and the MTA may have to scramble to find the funds – starving other service areas – to run the improved system.
Ms. Bose also discussed in detail several options to free up funds at the MTA. Long viewed as a problem on MUNI, fare evasion results in a yearly loss $22 to $25 million, equal to that of advertising revenues.

http://sf.streetsblog.org/2011/02/11/eyes-on-the-street-sfmta-crews-begin-striping-17th-street-bike-lanes/

Is It Even Possible to Get the Entire World to Carbon Zero by 2050?

Ask a Scientist – August 2010

B. Bailey from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, asks “If the political will were there, is it even possible to build enough wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, advanced vehicles, etc, to get the entire world to carbon zero by 2050?” and is answered by Steve Clemmer, Director of Energy Research…

(read about it on Union of Concerned Scientist site)

Envision’s Solar PV Building in a Box

Prefabricated solar buildings from architects and builders instead of solar designers are changing the solar installation model.

Robert Noble, the CEO of Envision Solar, has said that solar installation has (or will) become the domain of builders and electrical contractors, since these companies are already on the rooftop with extensive building experience.  He claims that solar installation is now “about the building industry.”

One of Envision’s differentiators, according to Noble, is that “we are architects and planners” who know how to “design, engineer and build.”  The San Diego, California-based company began trading on the OTC bulletin boards via a reverse merger a few months ago.

Envision is already in the business of building solar carports.  In Noble’s thinking, carports were “the largest single market for distributed solar power generation. [. . .] It’s better than drilling into a waterproofed roof,” according to the CEO.

(MORE)

Greentech News update

EnerNoc Buys Into Building Management, While Smart Meters Get Modular This week, EnerNoc entered the meter market with a merger and Cambridge Consultants has brought a modular solution to smart meter standards. If you want solar panels on your roof – head to Lowe’s. If you need information on the green economy – head to NREL’s new Clean Energy Economy Gateway. SAP rolled out an all-in-one sustainability software, and Obama encouraged job seekers to get involved in green construction. Editor-in-Chief Michael Kanellos has outlined the top ten greentech trends of 2009 and has a suggestion as to where the Quercus Trust went wrong. Israel is living up to its moniker of the “Startup Nation” with cleantech startups. Finally, Greentech Media Co-Founder Rick Thompson sits down and talks Copenhagen with Cisco’s Laura Ipsen in this video http://www.greentechmedia.com/

Clean Coal?

Carbon sequestration

Clean coal technology is on the drawing board. It’s a part of the great hope. Since coal is our currently ourbiggest source of energy, we must consider ways to clean it, however, we are not there yet. New systems are being considered and perhaps some of them may some day work, but in order to be clear, we must realize that this technology does not yet exist. More later on this subject. Anyone with an opinion or more detailed knowledge is invited to comment further.

(Excerpt from Alternet) By Antrim Caskey
“The Coal Spill Disaster in Kingston – has clued Americans in to the real consequences of coal. We use coal-fired power for almost half of our daily electricity use; when you turn on your lights, your plasma TV or laptop computer, you are probably using coal. The coal industry, which has come under sustained attack, especially in the wake of global climate change, is spending tens of millions of dollars on a public relations war to convince Americans that coal is good and clean.”

Climate 411 – from the Environmental Defense Fund