The website Environmental Protection Online reports that the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s Tesla Treatment Facility, California’s largest UV water disinfection plant, earned Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
The USGBC called the facility “a pioneering example of sustainable design.” The facility, commissioned in 2011, earned 37 points on the LEED for New Construction rating system. Green features include water-efficient landscaping and plumbing fixtures, thermal protection and shading, and earth-friendly building materials. A 132-panel rooftop solar array could enable the facility to win LEED gold certification.
The plant is part of the Hetch Hetchy Water and Power System, which delivers water by gravity to 7 percent of California’s population. The Bay Area gets Hetch Hetchy water that comes from Sierra Nevada snowmelt. The water is so clean that the California Department of Public Health and U.S. EPA do not require it to be filtered.
The Tesla plant has a 20,000 square foot building containing UV light arrays that disinfect up to 315 mgd.
