The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission has a plan to build a state-of-the-art facility for treating recycled water in the south-west corner of Golden Gate Park. The treated water would fan out from this facility via pipelines, pump stations, storage tanks and reservoirs under the park and under city streets and would be used for various non-potable uses in Golden Gate Park, including at the California Academy of Sciences. It would also provide irrigation for golf courses in Golden Gate Park, Lincoln Park and the Presidio. The project is in design development, with construction planned for completion in 2015.
Interestingly, according to the SFPUC website, there is historic precedent for this plan. In 1932, the Recreation and Parks Department constructed the McQueen Treatment Plant in Golden Gate Park, one of the first facilities in the nation to recycle wastewater for park irrigation. Water from this plant was used to supplement the wells that provided water for irrigation, as well as water features in the western end of the park. It is estimated that the plant provided an average of 0.5 million gallons per day of water to the park. Because of changes in state regulations, the city decommissioned the plant in 1981.
More on this later, but to find out more about the proposal, go to:
golden gate park: views from the thicket 