The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) Wastewater Enterprise is responsible for protecting public health and safety through the collection and treatment of wastewater generated by residents and businesses, as well as street runoff captured in curbside catch basins. Each day more than 80 million gallons of wastewater is collected in our 900 mile combined sewer system and transported to treatment plants where pollutants such as oil, dirt, pesticides, household wastewater and trash are removed before release into the San Francisco Bay and Pacific Ocean.

During the treatment process, the solids are separated from the liquids. Biosolids are the highly treated product resulting from these processed solids separated from wastewater. These processed solids are treated to substantially reduce pathogens (disease causing organisms), which allows the solids to be reused.San Francisco’s two 24-hour treatment plants, the Southeast Treatment Plant and Oceanside.

Read our fact sheet on Biosolids for more information.