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SFPUC wastewater quarterly: Southeast plant digesters near start‑up, headworks nears substantial completion
Summary
SFPUC staff reported progress on the wastewater program and Southeast plant major projects: biosolids digester construction at almost 80% complete, channel force main intertie over 65% complete, and the new headworks facility approaching substantial completion with demolition work already underway.
Bessie Tam presented the Water and Wastewater Enterprise quarterly report to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, highlighting construction progress, cost variances and project milestones for the agency’s System Improvement Program (SSIP).
Tam said the Southeast biosolids digester facilities project is past its peak construction phase and “we're almost at 80% complete in the construction phase, and the overall project is more than 64% complete,” with start‑up activities expected in 2026. She also reported the channel force main intertie project on Cesar Chavez Avenue is over 65% complete and described an ongoing bar screen replacement at the channel pump station.
Context and budget notes: staff presented an SSIP status cost summary showing an almost $200,000,000 variance across SSIP Phase 1 and other SSIP projects and a positive quarter‑to‑quarter variance of about $9,000,000. For the wastewater operations subprogram, staff reported a $2,900,000 cost variance tied to an increased projection for the Southeast outfall condition assessment and rehabilitation project; Tam said staff identified cost‑saving opportunities elsewhere that staff expect to offset this variance in future reports.
Tam noted milestone activity in the quarter — more than 16 milestones achieved — and highlighted two city partnership awards received by PUC projects (the Wawona area stormwater improvement project and the Bridal sewer improvement project).
Commission discussion focused on budget columns and how the commission’s “current approved budget” column reflects the latest approved amounts (staff said the current approved budget reflects the commission's February 2024 approvals and that budget reallocations can occur within categories before seeking new commission approvals). Commissioner Leverone pressed for clarification on how forecast changes and later approvals are reflected in the presented tables.
Ending: commissioners were invited to tour the Southeast facilities; staff said demolition related to the Southeast Plant new headworks project has begun and the project is expected to achieve completion by the end of the year, with operational handover and start‑up continuing into 2026.
