While the words Regional Environmental Sewer Conveyance Upgrade wouldn’t typically elicit tremendous enthusiasm by the average person, the 16-year effort by Silicon Valley Clean Water has reached a major milestone in making sure everything goes where it is supposed to once it leaves your house.
“It really goes a long way to ensure the environmental and the public health of our ratepayers,” SVCW Manager Teresa Herrera said. “The previous conveyance system was over 60 years old, we anticipate this system of what we’ve put in place will be 100 years in its useful life.”
The program outlined 11 replacement and rehabilitation projects including upgrading its treatment facilities and all SVCW’s pump stations to be connected to the recently completed gravity pipeline. The new pipeline within a 3.3-mile tunnel replaces the former pump system and utilizes gravity to carry wastewater from the pump stations to the new Headworks facility removing debris before it continues to a treatment facility. Most of the projects are completed save for the last phase of pump station improvements.
SVCW’s facilities provide service to the cities of Redwood City, San Carlos and Belmont, in addition to the areas within the West Bay Sanitary District — Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley and parts of East Palo Alto, Woodside and unincorporated areas within the county.
The project was initiated in 2006 when studies determined SVCW facilities were more than 60 years old and required replacement. The $580 million RESCU program was approved by the SVCW Commission in 2017 and construction began later that year.
Dr. Andrew Sawyers, director of the office of wastewater management for the Environmental Protection Agency, said SVCW was one of around 130 to receive a loan awarded by the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act. He said WIFIA has provided around $274 million toward this project.
“I think about the length of time that this project has been conceived, it speaks to the incredible resilience of the Silicon Valley Clean Water project,” Sawyers said. “That is sort of the hallmark of what we’re trying to do across the county, we are trying to use our financial programs to improve wastewater infrastructure across the nation.”
In addition to WIFIA and the Clean Water State Revolving Fund loan, SVCW worked alongside its many stakeholders and member agencies to help source funding for a project of this scale, which often meant increasing costs for ratepayers.
“A project with a timeline that exceeds and spans individual careers, board terms, funding cycles. A project where at the outset you won’t see the benefits for many years into the future. A generational investment in infrastructure that will benefit many jurisdictions,” Deputy County Executive Officer Justin Mates said. “It is truly impressive to pull off a program like the RESCU program.”
The outlined improvements prioritized sustainability with a goal of all improvements lasting for multiple generations, said SVCW Commission Chair Alicia Aguirre, also a member of the Redwood City Council. The recovery of biogas energy produces up to 70% of the treatment facility’s electricity demand. Additionally, waste heat recovery sources all of the heat needed for the plant process and building spaces, reducing the amount purchased natural gas necessary.
“You know you have to be a nerd to really love this kind of work, and I am,” said Aguirre, who is also a Redwood City councilmember. “I just love clean water infrastructure, garbage, all of the things that have to do with making our lives better.”
Mates also acknowledged that sewage might not be an attractive topic to discuss for most but when looking at the dedication of SVCW staff and those involved in the RESCU project, he hopes ratepayers can see how important the work is.
“If you were to ask our residents what makes this a great place to live, they probably wouldn’t say our innovative wastewater treatment and conveyance system,” Mates said. “But, I think when you look at it, and you look at the big ideas underlying this project. … I think you’ll see that this project represents the best of what we can do together in San Mateo County.”
(1) comment
This is great news if the new system will truly perform for 100 years, although I might change my mind if we knew what the final cost was and what the expected ROI is. Regardless, I guess many of these ratepayers can now “go in peace.”
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