Elevating OneWaterSF
Through OneWaterSF, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) has cultivated a shift in thinking about water and energy
resource management. OneWaterSF has allowed us to move away from operating within traditional water, wastewater, and energy boundaries
to a more holistic resource management approach that enables us to better recognize, value, and utilize our resources.
This shift is the result of several years of realizing benefits associated with projects and programs that converge multiple resources. These
include projects such as the constructed wetland and rainwater harvesting systems at the SFPUC Headquarters building, the Non-potable
Water Program, and our resource recovery and solar energy programs. The success of these and other projects and programs is attributed
to collaboration and partnerships, the use of innovative technologies, and the desire to apply the right resources to the right use. Together,
these actions help create an efficient water and energy future.
Our successes led us to formalizing OneWaterSF with the publication of the OneWaterSF Vision and Guiding Principles in 2016. This work
formed the basis from which we would advance this new approach to managing our water and energy resources.
OneWaterSF Vision
With our OneWaterSF approach, San Francisco will optimize the use of our finite
water and energy resources to balance community and ecosystem needs, creating
a more resilient and reliable future.
In 2017, we tested various projects and programs, or Initiatives, through a OneWaterSF lens to begin developing a framework and help plan
for subsequent years of implementation. As we begin 2018, our goal is to continue building on our successes and expanding the OneWaterSF
Vision by focusing our 2018 Initiatives on three key areas:
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Expanding the OneWaterSF Vision within our organization and the community
Promoting the use of technology and changing business practices
Matching the right resources to the right use
To us OneWaterSF no longer represents a new way of doing business, it’s how we do business - through collaboration and innovation, through
the use of technology and partnerships, and by creating opportunities to better utilize our finite resources. We believe that this way of doing
business empowers us to provide greater water and energy resource resiliency and reliability, and contribute to the livability and sustainability
of our communities and the environment.
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