What is IT?
IT stands for wastewater or what people call sewage. Think about every time you flush the toilet, take a shower, brush your teeth, do your laundry, or wash the dishes.
Thanks to San Francisco’s combined sewer system IT also includes stormwater (rainwater) and street runoff. Nearly one million residents, businesses and visitors rely on our sewer system every day.
How much is treated every day?
Each non-rainy day more than 80 million gallons of wastewater is collected and transported to treatment plants, where harmful pollutants like human waste, oil and other pesticides are removed before reaching the San Francisco Bay and Pacific Ocean.
Sounds a lot doesn’t it? Well, IT is.
80 million gallons is equal to filling 120 Olympic-sized swimming pools. If you are having trouble picturing that, imagine this - in just six days, you could fill a football stadium from top to bottom with wastewater! Let’s find out how wastewater moves around town. Next: Combined Sewers
