Silicon Valley Clean Water celebrates 50 years

“If no one knows about us, we’re doing really well, but then no one knows about us,” Zucca said.

SVCW has recently broken ground on wastewater projects that are advancing the organization’s goal of achieving energy neutrality, strengthening the plant’s infrastructure and guarding against future algae blooms in the Bay, Zucca said. 

With the completion of SVCW’s Regional Environmental Sewer Conveyance Upgrade program last year, a major rehabilitation of the network of pipes brining wastewater to the facility, the focus is now on the treatment plant itself. The goal is to make SVCW able to draw from its own green energy production and improve the system's self reliability. 

“We have a couple exciting initiatives less about infrastructure replacement, and getting us to some of our sustainability goals instead,” Zucca said. 

SVCW currently is able to generate 70% of its electricity demand from the methane produced as a byproduct of the treatment process, Zucca said. On an average day, the plant can generate a little more than 1 megawatt of power — enough electricity to provide 1.2 months of power for the average home in the United States. 

One method to expand its onsite energy production capabilities and get to 100% energy neutrality, SVCW will be accepting food waste from regional partners in the near future. 

South Bayside Waste Management Authority, also known as RethinkWaste, an organization just up the shore of Silicon Valley Clean Water’s plant, is slated to begin donating food waste to the treatment center that would otherwise go to the landfill. 

“The joy is, we’re providing the solution locally,” Zucca said. 

Establishing linear generators will also work to extrapolate methane and generate electricity without combustion, which typically have harmful byproducts. While Zucca jokingly described the process as “largely magic,” the technology used will lower emissions and bring the organization toward more sustainable processing practices. 

For the food waste program, working with other Peninsula-based organizations is an opportunity to establish a strong network of efficient systems, Zucca said. RethinkWaste benefits from depositing their excess food waste at a local facility and SVCW gets to harness the energy for a lower Pacific Gas and Electric bill.

“We’re capturing that and we’re turning it to energy here locally,” Zucca said. “We’re saving trucking, generating locally, and all of that turns into cost savings for the average resident.” 

Basics of wastewater treatment haven’t changed much since the plant was established in 1975, but efforts are ongoing to make the wastewater that ends up in the Bay as clean as possible. For instance, recent regulations are requiring wastewater management organizations to remove nitrogen from their wastewater to reduce future algae blooms in the Bay, Zucca said. 

Working in wastewater management is much more than making sure residents have clean water — though that is the bare necessity and of utmost importance. For Zucca, the field is just as rewarding as any tech job in Silicon Valley. 

“We as engineers understand the benefit we’re providing; we see the waste stream that we’re treating and we see what’s being discharged into the Bay and we know, it’s very tangible, the benefit,” Zucca said. “Anyone who hasn’t been on a tour here wouldn’t have a sense of what that looks like.” 

The future of wastewater treatment is reimagining wastewater not as something just to get rid of, but a potential resource to be optimized, Zucca said. While the efforts toward sustainability and innovative engineering design will be an ongoing evolution, the fundamentals of ensuring residents have clean water will last. 

“It’s good to know that what we do is what allows people to live in a dense area like this and still have the ability to go out and enjoy the resources like the San Francisco Bay,” Zucca said. “Without something as simple as wastewater treatment … it is a rewarding field and career to be in, even if it’s not as recognized.”