The policy of the Wastewater Enterprise (WWE) is to promote the beneficial and cost-effective reuse of biosolids while ensuring flexibility for operations and long-term reliability of reuse or disposal options. When considering reuse or disposal options, WWE is committed to a full evaluation of environmental impacts and will choose options that minimize any negative impact, maximize the recycling of resources while protecting public health and the environment. WWE is further committed to managing its biosolids operations in a manner consistent with being a good neighbor to the local community as welll as to ensuring full compliance with all applicable federal, state and county regulations.
WWE is committed to developing an Environmental Management System (EMS) for biosolids that is a framework of procedures and activities to support: a) product quality, b) public acceptance by establishing an independent third party verification as well as a two-way communication with the public and c) compliance.
What Is The Environmental Management System?
In 1997 the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies (AMSA), the Environmental Protection Agency and the Water Environment Foundation formed the National Biosolids Partnership. The Partnership in not-for-profit and one of its initial activities was to develop an environmental management system approach to help facilities manage their biosolids programs more effectively.
Therefore, the EMS is a framework of standard procedures and steps that facilities can use voluntarily to improve the effectiveness of their operations and therefore improve product quality, to address other issues of concern to the public like odor and noise and therefore gain public acceptance and finally to meet regulatory requirements.
The benefits resulting from a sound environmental management system are better compliance and overall environmental performance, increased efficiency and cost savings, pollution prevention, consistent, high quality biosolids and improved relations with local citizens.
What Is The Biosolids Value Chain?
The Biosolids Value Chain is the sequence of events from pre-treatment through reuse/ disposal of biosolids, all of which affect the quality and suitability of the selected management method.
What Are The Critical Control Points?
The Critical Control Points are those locations, unit processes, events, and activities throughout the biosolids value chain under the organization's direct control or influence, which require effective:
- Policies
- Programs
- Procedures
- Practices
- Monitoring
- Measurement to ensure the biosolids activities
- Meet legal, quality and public acceptance requirements and
- Do not have undesirable environmental impacts
Critical Control Points include all biosolids management activities that are covered under applicable legal and other requirements.
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 Biosolids - Compost Flyer and the FAQ (downloadable in PDF at bottom of page) for more information.
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The biosolids compost we have been giving out at our events since 2007 is the same as what you would find in a gardening store. Our goal with the program is to increase awareness about biosolids and expand our in-city reuse opportunities. As with many of our other sustainable programs, we go above and beyond what is required by federal and state laws in testing.
Provided here is accompanying documentation as it relates to our biosolids compost program – list of metals (of most recent batch of compost given away), SFPUC’s biosolids in comparison to EPA & EU limits, random sampling of our compost, Biosolids Monitoring, metals levels in store-bought fertilizer, comparison of metals compound found in vitamins and our compost, as well as the biosolids rules & regulations that we go by.
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