On February 25, 2020, Mayor London N. Breed declared a local emergency. The legal document put into action the mobilization of City resources, accelerated emergency planning and staffing to prepare in the event that COVID-19 appeared in the community. Following the announcement, with COVID-19 cases rising in San Francisco, in mid-March 2020, shelter-in-place orders went into place, and businesses and schools were shutdown, leaving thousands of City workers deemed as essential workers reporting to work. Ryan Batjiaka, a Resource Recovery Specialist for the San Francisco Public Utilities

“Black History Month is a reminder of how powerful and how much strength my people have.” In February, the SFPUC is celebrating the contributions and achievements of some of our talented Black colleagues. Working as Instrumentation Supervisor within our Wastewater Enterprise, Roderick Trice takes pride in celebrating Black History Month. “To me, it is a reminder of Black excellence and that we can do anything when we put our hearts and minds to it,” Trice explains. “The history of some of our greatest leaders and icons is highlighted and our children are reminded of who they are and what they

For Olivia Lucas, celebrating Black History Month doesn’t just mean celebrating during the month of February. “Black History Month is much more than four weeks on the calendar. Black History Month to me is a lifestyle of celebrating Black joy, Black culture, and the history of our ancestors.” Lucas has worked with the SFPUC since August 2018. She began as a San Francisco Fellow in the Finance Division and worked her way to earn a role as Social Impact Partnership Coordinator in External Affairs. In this role, she provides administrative support for the SFPUC Social Impact Partnership Program

As we celebrate the 2022 Lunar New Year, the SFPUC wishes everyone a healthy and prosperous Year of the Water Tiger. While commonly known as a Chinese holiday, Lunar New Year is celebrated across Asia, where more than three billion people bring in the new year with their families and loved ones. 2022 is the year of the Water Tiger. The tiger is the third animal in the 12-year lunar cycle. More specifically, this year it will be a water tiger because, in addition to the rotation of animals in the calendar, there is also a circle of five elements – wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Those born

The Mission Brick Sewer Rehabilitation is one of the Sewer System Improvement Program (SSIP) projects to upgrade and modernize our existing 100-year-old sewer mains. After years of planning, the project broke ground in early 2021. The community praised the endeavor to upgrade the sewer system on Mission Corridor, between 16th and 22nd Streets, as well as between 25th and Cesar Chavez Streets, and replace a small section of the Emergency Firefighting System pipeline at the intersection of 20th and Mission Street. But after a difficult year of COVID lockdowns and as lockdown rules began lifting

Safety is the top priority at the SFPUC. And, with construction underway at the Southeast Treatment Plant (SEP) on several massive projects totaling over $3 billion — including the new Headworks and Biosolids Digester Facilities Projects — safety is crucial. As construction for multiple overlapping projects at the SEP continues, crews recently completed 1,231,420 safety hours with no time lost due to injury. While this is a major achievement, it is even more impressive at the SEP due to the challenge to maintain plant operations and coordinate active construction projects, all while continuing