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PUC presents $2.7 billion SSIP update; Southeast plant to see multiple concurrent projects
Summary
Director Karen Kubik told the commission the Sewer System Improvement Program has 62 projects in motion (five in construction) and $123 million expended to date. Staff highlighted planning for multiple simultaneous construction projects at the Southeast Treatment Plant, central bayside alternatives including a Channel force main replacement, and programmatic risk assessments.
The commission received a quarterly update on the Sewer System Improvement Program (SSIP) focused on planning, design and early construction activity.
Karen Kubik, Director of the Wastewater Capital Program, said the program now includes 62 projects across planning, design and construction phases, with five projects in active construction. She said $123 million has been expended to date against a $2.7 billion program and forecast that construction spending will increase as more projects advance to field work.
Kubik emphasized the coming concentration of activity at the Southeast Treatment Plant, where staff expect up to eight concurrent construction projects at the site in 2018. To manage complexity, the program has initiated an electrical demand and generation analysis and formed a Site Management Committee to coordinate staging, shutdowns and contractor logistics. The program is also performing small‑business and jobs analyses to identify needed trades and local hiring opportunities.
On program priorities, Kubik detailed headworks and grit removal pilot studies, conceptual engineering for biosolids improvements, and an alternatives analysis for the Central Bayside System Improvement Project (which includes potential replacement of the Channel force main). She said environmental review (CEQA) work is being sequenced in parallel with conceptual engineering so that early environmental tasks support either an interior repair or bypass option for critical assets.
Commissioners pressed for clearer intermediate decision points and asked for additional presentations on programmatic risk. Kubik and staff acknowledged identified risks — contractor availability during a busy capital cycle, engineering capacity and plant operational constraints while construction proceeds — and said they have mitigation strategies and quarterly reporting planned.
Kubik also described several green infrastructure projects in planning (including WIGL Phase 1) and noted the department’s application for low‑interest state revolving loan funds for a Lake Merced project. Community outreach and a recent series of public events and tours were highlighted as key engagement tools.
