The Moscone Center hosts dozens of trade shows, conferences, and large events each year. It’s also home to San Francisco’s first district-scale onsite water reuse system. The system collects and treats rainwater and other onsite drainage from over 800,000 square feet of space. By reusing that water for non-drinking water uses, it saves precious drinking water for drinking. In just four years of operation, the project reached its target of reusing enough water to save at least 30 million gallons of drinking water. That’s the equivalent to filling 416 backyard swimming pools or meeting the yearly water needs of 514 San Francisco residents!
This project at Moscone was made possible through the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission's (SFPUC) Onsite Water Reuse Grant Program. The initiative provides grant funding to customers who reduce their water usage by collecting, treating, and using alternate water sources including rainwater, stormwater, graywater, foundation drainage, air conditioning condensate, and blackwater for non-drinking uses.
No Water Droplet Left Behind
When the Moscone Center decided to increase its facility size and add new ballrooms, meetings rooms, and outdoor space, officials also recognized the opportunity to add in new technologies to make the expansion more sustainable. Under the SFPUC’s guidance, it installed an onsite water reuse system that captures water from three different sources that most buildings simply let go to waste: rainwater collected from the roof, foundation drainage from beneath the building, and steam condensate from the building’s heating system. The alternate water sources then flow into a 70,000-gallon storage tank where it undergoes a multiple-step filtration and UV disinfection process.
After treatment, the water circulates to be used again – in the building’s toilets and urinals, the irrigation systems around Moscone Center and the Yerba Buena Gardens, and a fill station that supplies water for San Francisco Public Works’ street cleaning trucks. “SFPUC’s grant support helped enable Moscone to install and operate the onsite water reuse system, contributing to Moscone’s LEED Platinum certification and sustainability goals," said John Plume, Chief Engineer at Moscone Center.
This system is considered a district-scale system, in which it is large enough to span multiple property lines to serve the needs of not just one building, but the water needs of surrounding land as well. It significantly contributed to Moscone achieving LEED Platinum O+M status – the highest LEED certification level and green building recognition for existing properties.
The SFPUC Program that Made the Water Reuse System Possible
Owned by the City and County of San Francisco, Moscone is the city’s largest convention and exhibition complex, spanning three blocks and 87 acres. Its onsite water reuse system provides non-potable water for multiple end uses and significantly reduces the demand for drinking water. Since the system became operational in 2021, Moscone’s treatment system manager and facility engineers have been ensuring that water quality meets all public health standards, and that the system equipment continues to run efficiently.
In a state with a history of drought, reusing water is the sustainable way forward. The SFPUC grant program promotes the voluntary adoption of onsite water reuse, as well as projects required under the non-potable water ordinance to go above and beyond baseline reuse requirements. To date, the SFPUC has supported five onsite water reuse grant projects, representing a combined offset of 110 million gallons of drinking water.