After nearly a decade of work, San Francisco has reached a major milestone in modernizing its largest wastewater facility. As highlighted in American Infrastructure, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), alongside Carollo and the Sundt-Walsh Joint Venture, completed a transformative upgrade to the Southeast Treatment Plant. This achievement reflects the strength of trusted partnerships and collaborative problem-solving.
Modernizing San Francisco’s Largest and Oldest Wastewater Facility
Originally built in 1952, the Southeast Treatment Plant is responsible for treating nearly 80 percent of the city’s wastewater. The facility’s aging headworks, which filtered debris and grit from incoming flows, had long exceeded its useful life. The facility was no longer meeting performance standards for odor control, grit removal, and process reliability, all critical needs for a combined sewer system that manages both stormwater and wastewater.
The new state-of-the-art headworks facility provides year-round treatment capacity of up to 250 million gallons per day, significantly improving performance while reducing the plant’s footprint. The streamlined layout not only enhances operational efficiency but also frees up space for future improvements.
Collaboration in the Face of Construction Challenges
Delivering this project required navigating seismic constraints, limited site space, and unforeseen hurdles such as the COVID-19 pandemic and soaring construction costs. Working together, SFPUC, Carollo, and the Sundt-Walsh JV pivoted to alternative delivery methods that allowed designs to be adjusted in real time without slowing progress.
This partnership also proved critical when the team was tasked with identifying $100 million in cost savings. Rather than building a brand-new pump station, the team opted to rehabilitate the existing structure, modernizing it to meet seismic standards and performance requirements while preserving project momentum. By leveraging each partner’s expertise, the team maintained treatment operations throughout construction and kept the project on schedule.
Building Resilience and Community Value at SFPUC
The upgraded facility incorporates advanced grit removal and energy-efficient features, as well as architectural elements that connect with the surrounding community. Public art, including a striking 335-foot mural, transforms the plant into a neighborhood landmark rather than an industrial backdrop.
The project also became the first wastewater headworks project in the country, and the first project for the City and County of San Francisco, to earn an Envision Gold Award from the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure, underscoring its commitment to sustainability and community impact.
Trusted Design-Build Teams Deliver Lasting Benefits
For Carollo and the Sundt-Walsh JV, this project exemplifies how collaboration and trust between partners can overcome challenges and deliver long-term value for clients and communities alike. By working side by side with SFPUC, the team delivered a modernized facility that improves resilience, strengthens sustainability, and supports the city’s water future for decades to come.
To learn more about this milestone project, read the full article on page 50 in American Infrastructure.
