Pride and Petsjustcute

Pet lovers joined in early to celebrate their pets and the coming Halloween eve at 20th Annual Pet Pride Day held in Golden Gate Park’s Sharon Meadow on Sunday, October 25. The incredible weather was just the treat that both pets and humans to enjoy while visiting informational booths that included adoptable pets of all species, animal rescue groups; pet product vendors free goodies and raffle prizes!

The day’s events included a Halloween pet costume contest, pet trick competition, incredible Frisbee dog tricks and the ever popular SFPUC sponsored Super Dooper Pooper Scooper Kiddie Goodie Scramble, all hosted by Master of Ceremonies, Doug McConnell of ‘Bay Area Backroads’ and ‘Mac and Mutley’ fame.

The Super Dooper Pooper Scooper Kiddies’ Goodie Scramble helped to instruct children and adults alike to pick up their pet’s waste and dispose of it properly.

SFPUC staff distributed pet waste bags throughout the day to ensure everyone picked up and disposed of their pet's waste in a proper manner.

So, just how are you supposed to dispose of your pet's waste in San Francisco. Follow these tips and you will be part of the solution to water pollution:

PET WASTE DISPOSAL DOs

ALWAYS pick up after your dog and dispose of its contents into the trash! There are over 120,000 dogs in San Francisco, and each one poops once or twice a day... you do the math!

• Look for and use biodegradable pet waste bags available in dispensers at local parks.


• Carry extra biodegradable bags when walking your dog and encourage other dog owners to clean up after their pets, as well.


• Teach your children how to properly clean up and dispose of pet waste. Your actions set an example for others.


• Dispose of biodegradable pet waste bag in the BLACK trash bin.


• DO NOT put into BLUE recycling bin or GREEN compost bin.


• DO NOT flush into the toilet or drop into the stormdrain on on the corner (up to a $25,000 fine for dumping into stormdrain!)
  
  When you pick up after your dog, you are helping the environment because...

“We all Live Downstream!”

Crazy Monday Storm

Oct. 19 was such a crazy day for many people due to the storms. Mother Nature decided to not play nice and surprised everyone by unloading a lot of water from the sky in a short period of time. Manholes and side sewer vents overflowed, intersections flooded, and unfortunately some people's homes were damaged in the process.

The good thing is that in most instances City departments came together to help those areas in need. This came in the form of pumping out water, cleaning debris, or sanitizing homes and businesses so people weren't displaced. Still, there was a lot of damage done.

What happened? Well, San Francisco's combined sewer system is designed to carry around 0.8 inches/hour of flow. This is based on historical weather models... and most of the time it's enough. For example, during the Oct 13 storm or any of the rainstorms over the past two years (albeit there weren't enough) you didn't hear reports of whole neighborhoods flooding.

Clogged catch basins and intersections yes, but not rivers of water and manhole geysers.

On Monday, some of our gauges showed that nature dropped a whopping 0.71 inches of rain in 20 MINUTES in many areas. Even in areas previously prone to flooding (where we subsequently upgraded our system), the storm intensity thrown our way was too much, too fast. Of course, the upgrades helped, and some areas could have fared far worse, but that's understandably little consolation to those who had their homes, businesses, and lives affected.

Rather than blab on about the system... I'll direct you to a a very informative web post written by San Franciscan Jeff Diehl (WARNING: some expletives are used in the page).

More to come about our combined sewer system in coming weeks. We'll be reevaluating where our system goes from here as we move forward with plans to rebuild it -- and we'll be incorporating a lot of different strategies, like Low Impact Design (which is mentioned in Jeff's post).

JEFF DIEHL'S WEB POSTING

Were you affected on Monday? Post your story in the comments section.

The First Flush: It is not what you think!

Last week was our first big rainstorm of the season in San Francisco. In the wastewater business the "first flush" refers to the initial rainwater that runs off the street into a storm drain (or San Francisco's case a catch basin!). While the rainwater itself is clean, the stuff it picks up off the street is not. Think of the motor oil, brake dust, garden chemicals, paint, etc., that end up washing into the system.

That's where the beauty of San Francisco's combined sewer system comes into play. Since we have one sewer pipe for both our sewage and stormwater that connects to our treatment plants. Our system provides full treatment for "first flush" pollutants.

Fancy that! So why do you think San Francisco is the one of only two places in California that has a combined sewer system? Can you guess where the other combined sewer system is located. (HINT: It is Old......)

Stay tuned for the answer.