PUC outlines grant, code and acquisition options to reduce neighborhood flood risk

Summary

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission presented a package of non‑capital flood‑resilience strategies—expanded grants for plumbing and flood‑proofing, building‑code changes tied to point‑of‑sale or major renovation, and selective acquisition—to protect properties vulnerable to 25‑ and 100‑year storms.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday endorsed a staff proposal to expand non‑capital flood‑resilience tools for neighborhoods that remain at high risk during storms larger than the utility's 5‑year design standard.

Stephanie Harrison, project manager with the PUC, summarized a three‑tier approach: maintain the 5‑year storm as the engineering design standard for the collection system, use a 25‑year core‑flood map to determine eligibility for grants and mandatory resilience requirements, and publish a 100‑year map for disclosure and public notification. "The 25‑year design storm would be used for eligibility for programmatic strategies like grants and also requirements like changing the building code," Harrison said.

The staff proposal would expand a current, under‑utilized grant program to cover four categories of property‑level projects:…

PUC outlines grant, code and acquisition options to reduce neighborhood flood risk

Summary

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