San Francisco Water Recycling Plant Is Capable of Putting Out 2.8 Million Gallons of Recycled Water Per Day

The state of California gave approval for irrigation of the golf course at TPC Harding Park with recycled water.  To now, the 175-acre course has been irrigated with water from the Hetch Hetchy system — the same water that is delivered to households and businesses for consumption by people.

Other golf courses in the city are already irrigated with recycled water.  The North San Mateo County Sanitation District in 2003 built a new facility to produce recycled water.  The facility can produce up to 2.8 million gallons of non-potable water per day, but there has been a demand for only about 1,000,000 gallons per day.

In supporting the recycling project, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission stated: “California has been safely using treated recycled water since 1929. There has not been one confirmed case of anyone becoming ill from the proper use of recycled water for landscape irrigation, commercial, municipal or industrial uses.”

is a regional water system,” he said of using water recycled in Daly City.

The SFPUC also is in the planning stages of other recycled water projects, including a wastewater recycling facility near Ocean Beach at the Oceanside Wastewater Treatment Plant and another on the east side of The City at a location that has yet to be determined.

“It is the first in a long line of recycled water projects in The City,” Jue said of the Harding Park project.

According to an SFPUC document about the Harding Park project, “California has been safely using treated recycled water since 1929. There has not been one confirmed case of anyone becoming ill from the proper use of recycled water for landscape irrigation, commercial, municipal or industrial uses.”

San Francisco’s action follows a national trend to find alternative sources of irrigation water for golf courses.  The average golf course uses about 10,ooo gallons of water per day.  More than 2.5 billion gallons of water are used every day to irrigate golf courses worldwide.