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Imagine A Day Without Water, v2.0

“Imagine Track A Day Without Water”

For Lotus Water’s second year participating in the US Water Alliance’s Imagine a Day Without Water, our staff participated in a daily water usage tracking exercise. We invited our staff to take one day to document their water usage from dawn to midnight. The process was meant to gather data (we are engineers after all!), but was designed more to encourage personal reflection and focus awareness on our relationship with water. Living in an urbanized area, most of us don’t think twice about where our water comes from, frequently flipping the tap on and off throughout the day. But here in California, drought is never far from our minds and as a water-focused engineering firm, we work with water all day. Yet, the 11 staff who participated all remarked that tracking their water usage for just one day truly illuminated how little attention we pay to this precious natural resource.

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“Timing water use is humbling.”

>> Maddie Duda, Community Involvement Planner <<

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Our reflections ranged from noticing just how much water is used to wash dishes by hand, to acknowledging there’s room to improve efficiency in keeping the greenery going for those with yards and houseplants. A few people described household strategies to conserve water by capturing shower water or having laundry-to-landscaping set up. And of course, COVID has altered our relationship with water – more handwashing, keeping up with laundry, dishes, and overall cleaning in our own homes.

 

Yesterday—one day before Imagine a Day Without Water—was a rude, though fitting, awakening for Kelsey Wilson:

“I woke up at 6am, used the bathroom and soaped up my hands. Half asleep, I went to turn the tap on – gurgling and creaking pipes startled me out of my slumber. No water came out. I looked confusingly at the toilet and sink – the toilet had flushed but no water in the faucet. I tried the kitchen sink – empty pipes rumbling. I knew I had a bucket of water outside from my showers that was for plant watering and wandered out to finish rinsing my hands. When I came back into the kitchen I nodded in confirmation as I saw I had a jug of drinking water sitting on the counter. A quick check of my water provider’s website showed a water main had burst and they had shut off all water in my vicinity. Glad to know what was going on I felt relieved – a few hours later the water returned to the faucet. Yet for those few hours I knew what it felt like to have no water readily available. “

>> Kelsey Wilson, Urban Watershed Planner

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Others reflected on the physical movement of water throughout our living spaces and the ways we are so accustomed to just turning on the tap.

“It flowed through our water service lateral pipe, through our plumbing and in via one of our taps in the kitchen or bathroom. It was transported throughout the apartment in mugs, bottles, cups, and appliances. Household plants soaked it up and evapotranspired it. It flowed through me into the toilet, and then it flowed out through our wastewater pipe to the sewer.”

>> Jack Brown, Water Resources Engineer

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Being able to flip a knob and see clean water fill a glass or used water disappear down a drain is nearly effortless for most of California, but that’s not the case for the 2.2 BILLION people worldwide who can’t access clean water, nor the 4.2 BILLION without safe sanitation. Continued investment in water and wastewater infrastructure needs to be prioritized to ensure all our communities have access—now and into the future—to clean, affordable water that’s essential to everyday life.

Reflecting on our water use as a team also made us contemplate how to better advocate for this important resource in our work and daily lives, not only within the industry but to policy and lawmakers, and throughout the communities around us.

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“I've always been really interested in how many of our systems are set up to hide our use and waste from us -- we see faucets and drains and trash cans, but no collection of that water or our accumulation of trash over time. If we had to sit with/see these things all the time, might we all be more motivated to reduce our use?”

>> Maddie Duda, Community Involvement Planner

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Rain has been falling in the Bay Area the past few days, bringing much needed precipitation to the drought-stricken state. As we rejoice in this rainfall, let us not lose sight of this precious resource and continue to look for new ways to conserve water while investing in innovative solutions that support our infrastructure and the natural water cycle.

Celebrating Women + Water

March marks both Women’s History Month and World Water Day, and Lotus is highlighting ongoing gender inequity issues related to water, while celebrating the crucial role that women play as experts and agents of change in achieving universal access to water and sanitation.

2.2 billion people worldwide still lack access to safe drinking water, and women + girls are disproportionately affected by the lack of access to basic water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), often bearing a larger responsibility than males for daily activities that rely on water, such as providing water for drinking, cooking, sanitation, and hygiene. Yet, women are regrettably underrepresented in the water sector at just 18%, despite representing nearly 50% of the global population. As primary providers, managers, and users of water at home, women have unique perspectives that are critical to informing and driving productive change in the design and maintenance of water systems, water distribution, water health, and policymaking for our communities and planet as a whole.

adapted from Women in Water Utilities: Breaking Barriers (World Bank, 2019)

adapted from Women in Water Utilities: Breaking Barriers (World Bank, 2019)

Representation Matters

Improving representation is part of the pathway to achieving gender equality in water, and Lotus is proud to count 68% women among its talented team of planners, designers, and engineers. Representation matters, not only because "If she can see it, she can be it”, but also because seeing women in prominent roles—whether it’s as mentors, advocates, technical experts, hiring managers, or decision makers—sets an example of what’s possible for all of us, building confidence in and inspiring future generations of female talent and male peers alike.

In recognition of the accomplishments that women continue to make in the water world, we asked our Lotus team to name women who have made an impact on shaping their professional paths into water.

STEFANI HARRISON

Stefani is a planner, engineer, and project manager whose expertise runs as deep as it does broad, spanning from Left Coast (SF Bay Area) to Right Coast (Boston Area), from wet infrastructure design to resilience policy development, and leading teams as both a consultant and from within the public sector.

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- WHY SHE INSPIRES - “In addition to exceptional technical aptitude, Stefani has that rare ability to truly listen, empathize, and perceptively read a room to pinpoint key concerns + priorities, see + reconcile what’s at odds, map out a path forward, and then thoughtfully craft the right story that will resonate with each party involved. Seeing her balance quick + efficient analysis with measured + patient consensus-building is really quite remarkable, and showed me just how crucial an effective communication strategy is to the ultimate success of a project.”

-Amy Kam

JANE JACOBS

Jane Jacobs was a 1960s activist who fought for equal pay for women, the right to unionize, and perhaps most notably, organized her neighborhood to oppose the construction of new high-rises and a new expressway as part of “slum clearance” plans for Greenwich Village. As a self-taught woman in the male-dominated field of urban + city planning, Jacobs tenaciously challenged established planning practices, and staunchly advocated for mindful development that preserves diversity and empowers local citizens to advocate for their community.

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- WHY SHE INSPIRES - “As a young engineer, I was focused on improving the environment, but I wasn't very aware of our ability to impact people's experience within the public realm. Learning about Jane Jacobs and reading her books really introduced me to urban planning and changed how I thought about my role as an engineer. Because of her, I became more interested in how to weave urban planning into civil engineering through projects and policies that bring people together, preserve economic + cultural diversity, and create vibrant mixed-use neighborhoods. This permanently changed the focus and trajectory of my career.”

-Scott Durbin

KIMBERLY O’CONNELL

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Kimberly manages UC San Diego’s Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES ) permit + environmental compliance programs related to stormwater pollution prevention. She also runs AQUAholics Anonymous, a collaborative of UCSD students, staff and faculty that works to encourage water conservation on campus.

- WHY SHE INSPIRES - “Kimberly, my first internship supervisor, oversees UCSD's stormwater compliance. She has been a key mentor in shaping my interest in the subject, from learning about stormwater to guiding me to a career and graduate school focused on stormwater design.”

-Terrence Ng

ROBIN WALL KIMMERER

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Dr. Kimmerer is a scientist and award-winning author, whose work draws on the wisdom of both indigenous and scientific knowledge in advancing sustainability goals and restoring ecological health + our relationship to the land.

- WHY SHE INSPIRES - “Robin inspires me because she masterfully combines science, ecology, and traditional ecological knowledge in both her writing and advocacy.”

-Kelsey Wilson

ALISA VIALPANDO

Alisa has been designing + managing engineering land development projects from concept through construction for over 3 decades, leading teams of engineers and inspiring teammates along the way.

- WHY SHE INSPIRES - “I was accustomed to being one of a very small handful of women engineers in college and in the workplace until I joined Alisa's team in my mid-twenties. She managed a large team of engineers, of which half were women, and provided my first real example of a successful engineer, leader, and mom.”

-Lotus Engineer

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Orange Memorial Park Undergoing Major Renovation

Orange Memorial Park is getting a makeover starting with what lies underneath. Starting March 22, 2021, residents will see construction fencing lining a portion of the park to get ready for Phase One of the Orange Memorial Improvement Project, consisting of a Regional Stormwater Capture Project that will provide water quality improvements to meet the requirements of the San Francisco Bay Municipal Regional Stormwater Permit (MRP). The project is designed to reduce discharges of PCBs (Polychlorinated Biphenyls), which have been linked to a variety of adverse health effects, and mercury to the San Francisco Bay.

“This regional project, which is spearheaded by our City, will provide multiple benefits in addition to improving water quality, including reducing localized flooding and reusing treated water for irrigation and groundwater recharge,” said South San Francisco Mayor Mark Addiego. “We’re excited that we are leading this effort as the first of its kind in the Bay Area, in hopes that this encourages others to do similar projects that will ultimately benefit our health and the environment.”

(image: incommon)

How it Works

Once water is diverted into the park, the system treats the water to remove trash, debris, and sediment. Pretreated water will then enter a pipe leading to an underground cistern located under the sports field for further treatment and disinfection so it can be used to meet irrigation and other non-potable demands, which includes irrigation to the park and along portions of Centennial Trail. When full, the cistern overflows into an infiltration gallery which will provide groundwater recharge benefits. Construction of a stormwater capture system will occur underneath a portion of the existing baseball and softball fields, and along the picnic area.

(image: incommon)

This project helps clean water flowing from our cities to the Bay. The reach of Colma Creek running through Orange Memorial Park drains over 6,500 acres of land from six different municipalities, including the City of South San Francisco. This regional stormwater capture project, the first of its kind in Northern California, diverts all dry-weather flow and the first flush of urban stormwater runoff from Colma Creek into an underground system integrated within the park. Overall, 200 million gallons of water, or 15 percent of the annual flow in Colma Creek, pass through the system for treatment and beneficial use.

The Phase One project is funded through a $15.5M cooperation implementation agreement with Caltrans to help satisfy its pollutant load reduction.

What About the Sports Fields?

Revitalizing the sports fields is Phase Two of the Orange Memorial Improvement Project, which will also include pavement restoration and other associated surface improvements. This multi-sport, all-weather field will include:

  • Electronic scoreboards

  • Synthetic turf

  • Sports field lighting

  • Enhanced planting areas

  • Spectator areas

  • One adult/teen softball diamond with dugouts, bullpens, and batting cage

  • Two youth baseball diamonds with dugouts and bullpens

  • Two adult soccer fields with portable goals

  • Two junior soccer fields with portable goals

  • Four youth soccer fields with portable goals

  • Drinking fountains

“Determining what this multi-sport, all-weather field will look like was the result of many community meetings, where we heard from a variety of sports representatives in terms of how they envision the future of this field,” said Sharon Ranals, Parks and Recreation Director and Assistant City Manager.

“Having played on these fields in my youth, I know firsthand how valuable youth baseball is to our community. These field improvements and expansion will provide years of recreation and memories for generations to come,” added Vice Mayor Mark Nagales.

Schedule

Phase One construction begins March 22, 2021, continuing through Spring 2022.

Phase Two construction will begin in Spring 2022 with sports fields anticipated to reopen in Spring 2023.

Follow the progress of this project by visiting www.ssf.net/OMPImprovements and read more about Lotus’ role on the project here!

 
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Lotus Wins Overpass Challenge Award!

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Lotus is excited to be one of three winning teams selected for the 2020 Greater Milwaukee Green Infrastructure Overpass Challenge! The contest, funded by the Tellier Foundation and administered by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD), is focused on reducing and treating polluted stormwater runoff, the biggest remaining threat to rivers and lakes across the US. Teams were challenged to identify new, innovative approaches to maximize the capture and treatment of runoff from interstate overpasses, while attaining other triple bottom line benefits such as activating otherwise neglected spaces.

Many cities are transforming transit underpasses—such as I-94 in Milwaukee—into public parks, replacing vacant lots, overgrown weeds, and dark passageways with art installations, pedestrian thoroughfares, and community amenities. (image: Google Eart…

Many cities are transforming transit underpasses—such as I-94 in Milwaukee—into public parks, replacing vacant lots, overgrown weeds, and dark passageways with art installations, pedestrian thoroughfares, and community amenities. (image: Google Earth)

Gathering Place by the Water

Water is of vital importance to Milwaukee, which sits at the confluence of 3 rivers and Lake Michigan. The city’s name fittingly means “gathering place by the water”, derived in part from Potawatomi (“manwaking”) and Ojibwe (“omaniwakiing”). Drawing inspiration from this rich heritage and identity, Lotus teamed with incommon to develop two prototype concepts that, in addition to achieving stormwater management objectives, would improve safety, enhance connectivity, and create gathering spaces for the community. Both designs would reconfigure the existing drainage pipe system from the freeway, connecting it to a new treatment system below, consisting of water treatment elements with the flexibility to be implemented individually or as a hybrid combination based on specific site conditions and needs.

Sculpture Park

The Sculpture Park concept manages water with a distributive approach, using modular components that are flexible in their implementation. The existing freeway drainage system would be routed down to a baffle box element that settles out sediment and other contaminants. Baffle boxes would be housed in sculptures designed in collaboration with local artists, inviting visitors to explore and interact with the park features, while also providing educational information about local flora and fauna.

Waterways Parklet

The Waterways Parklet concept is a more centralized treatment system well-suited for space-constrained sites, with vegetated wattle waterways that spiral down and around overpass columns, providing initial filtration as runoff is captured and conveyed below. The Waterways Parklet would provide air quality benefits, while introducing vertical wildlife habitat and vegetation to the site.

renderings by incommon

Both designs finish the water treatment process with a constructed wetland and bioretention elements that provide wildlife habitat, public interaction touch points, and community greening.

Tune in Wednesday, February 24, 2021 at 10a PST to learn more about the Green Infrastructure Overpass winning designs.

 
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San Mateo County Streets Reimagined

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When is a street not just a street?

What if the streets in our communities were better designed to provide safety and protection for pedestrians and cyclists, help increase resilience against the effects of climate change, and beautify our neighborhoods?

BEFORE

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER

To take the leap toward sustainable streets throughout the county, the City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County (C/CAG) created the San Mateo Countywide Sustainable Streets Master Plan in collaboration with Caltrans under the Climate Adaptation Planning Grant Program. This long-term planning effort builds on years of watershed modeling and stakeholder input, and takes a closer look at how and where to build sustainable streets in San Mateo County that integrate stormwater management with local priorities, like bike and pedestrian mobility, transit improvements, climate change adaptation, and more. The plan also includes a down-scaled climate change analysis to better understand the potential future precipitation related impacts from climate change and how green stormwater infrastructure can help adapt to changing conditions.

Lotus—along with key project partners Alta Planning, Paradigm Environmental, and Urban Rain Design—worked with C/CAG to identify and prioritize sustainable street projects throughout the County, developing a scoring methodology to prioritize projects and a companion Green Infrastructure Tracking Tool website that summarizes sustainable infrastructure in San Mateo County and the benefits it provides for stormwater capture and climate resiliency.

Page through the complete plan and its associated documents here.

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Green Schoolyards From Award-Winning Grant Program

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Earlier this year, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) celebrated the one-year anniversary since the launch of its Green Infrastructure (GI) Grant Program, the City’s first large-scale GI grant program that provides funding to San Francisco property owners to capture and manage stormwater through GI. The first year of the GI Grant program saw many milestones, including an applicant workshop with over 100 participants, 6 project grants totaling $5M in funding, and winning a 2020 Outstanding Sustainable Stormwater Program Award from the California Stormwater Quality Association (CASQA).

Today, we celebrate another exciting milestone - the first two grant projects have completed construction, just in time for the rainy season!

 
 

Bessie Carmichael Middle School

The SFPUC awarded San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) $0.4M, working with SFUSD’s Green Schoolyards program and additional funding, to transform the Bessie Carmichael schoolyard. The GI Grant Program funded:

  • Site soil remediation

  • A repaved and painted play yard

  • A mural to promote education around the environment and infrastructure through art

  • Three in-ground planted bioretention basins, and

  • Four above grade planters to manage roof and yard stormwater runoff.

Altogether these seven stormwater management BMPs will manage 275,000 gallons of stormwater annually within the Channel Watershed.


 

Lafayette Elementary School

An additional $0.5M was awarded to fund stormwater infrastructure improvements at Lafayette Elementary School, integrated into SFUSD’s building modernization project. The grant funded:

  • Two bioretention basins

  • A large planted dry creek bed to manage stormwater runoff from the play yard and a portion of the roof

  • New planters

  • Impervious surface removal, and

  • Educational signage throughout the yard.

The stormwater improvements will manage 350,000 gallons of stormwater annually in the Sunset Watershed.

Lotus Water continues to provide technical and programmatic support for the GI Grant Program, working closely with the SFPUC to develop the program guidebook, perform site visits at potential grant project sites, review applications and plan submissions, and provide construction administration services.  

Read more about the GI Grant Program here.

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Imagine A Day Without Water

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2020 has been quite a year – we’re in the midst of a global public health crisis from the coronavirus pandemic, which has highlighted the critical role that water and wastewater systems play in our communities to protect public health, safeguard the environment, and make a healthy economy possible.

Today, we Imagine a Day Without Water.

It’s a day to pause and notice the way that water systems impact our lives and communities, and commit to ensuring a sustainable water future for generations to come.

Lotus recognizes how essential water is for our communities to thrive and is committed to working toward a future that ensures all people have access to clean, safe, reliable, and affordable water.  Our philosophy is rooted in the belief that traditional engineered systems are most effective when integrated with innovative solutions that restore natural processes, optimize water reuse, and incorporate community insight and priorities to balance environmental, social, and economic benefits. Together with project partners, such as the SFPUC and King County, Lotus carefully considers potential equity and environmental justice impacts throughout our capital planning, project, and policy development process. Through this collaborative triple bottom line approach, Lotus is engineering solutions for a better environment while building stronger, more resilient communities.

 

We can all use our voices to speak up in support of water infrastructure by voting.

 

For many of us, this is the most important election of our lifetimes. It is increasingly imperative that we hold our elected officials accountable for addressing the climate crisis, fixing our failing infrastructure, prioritizing safe drinking water for all, and protecting water for future generations. Below are some resources about candidate views on water issues and information on how the voting process might be different this year.

FEATURED PROJECTS

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A Playground With A View!

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The McLaren Park Playground and Group Picnic Area is nearly complete! Lotus Water staff performed the final site inspection in early August on this important community project within San Francisco’s second largest park. The project, led by CMG Landscape Architecture, includes a new nature-inspired playground that is centered around a 20-foot tall climbing tower that will give kids amazing views as they play. It also includes accessibility and landscape improvements, native plants, as well as new stormwater management features such as permeable pavement and infiltration galleries. Estimated to be complete in the next 1-2 months, the project will add a valuable outdoor amenity envisioned to reenergize this area of the park and its surrounding communities.

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

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Back to School

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In alignment with Lotus’s commitment to corporate social responsibility, Lotus is partnering with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) by participating in its community benefits program. The program’s purpose is to be a “good neighbor” to communities that are impacted by SFPUC facilities and operations. Through the program, Lotus endeavors to give back to these communities through volunteer work and donations.

One of the ways Lotus gives back is by applying its technical and environmental expertise to support the development of STEM curriculums and green schoolyards in San Francisco public schools, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Middle School, Bret Harte Elementary School, Leonard Flynn Elementary School, and McKinley Elementary School.

At Leonard Flynn Elementary, Lotus staff coordinated field trips to the Mission Science Workshop, where students of all grades do hands-on science lessons and experiments ranging from dissecting squid to building circuits. Other volunteer acitivites include bringing tadpoles to Flynn’s second grade classrooms and support the students and teachers in caring for them while students learn about their lifecycle and observe their metamorphosis into frogs. Lotus also organized a workday to reactivate Flynn’s rainwater cistern, by installing piping to bring captured rainwater to irrigate the school’s garden.

To read more about our community benefit work, check out this post on volunteering at Literacy for Environmental Justice in Southeast San Francisco.

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Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat...and WATER!

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CAUTION!

sous-chefs @ work

You know what they say about company culture:

“A team that okonomiyakis together, stays together. ”

Joking aside, Lotus Water fully embraced the spirit of okonomi (“what you like”) and yaki (cooked”), by taking time to enjoy each other’s company, learning some tasty new culinary skills, and celebrating a successful 2019 with a home(office)-cooked meal with the folks at 18 Reasons.

The cooking class and menu were collectively chosen by Team Lotus as our company’s annual holiday event. Everyone had a blast in the kitchen, from mandolining carrots, searing pork belly, flipping okonomiyaki pancakes, to whipping up matcha soufflés…and of course EATING with each other and looking forward to another big year in 2020!

Want to put on your chef’s toque? Menu + recipes here!

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Another GI Plan in the Books!

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As part of its obligations to regulate stormwater runoff pollutants under NPDES MS4 Phase I requirements, the City of Menlo Park has adopted a Green Infrastructure Plan for Stormwater (GI Plan) that demonstrates a shift from traditional “gray” infrastructure, which channels untreated runoff directly into San Francisco Bay, to a more resilient and sustainable stormwater system that integrates “green” infrastructure strategies. Along with its teaming partners, Lotus helped establish how source control, redevelopment requirements (C.3), green streets, regional capture projects, LID retrofits, and additional City policies can collectively combine to meet runoff capture targets cost-effectively. Dive into the complete document here.

SJ Green Stormwater Infrastructure Goes Public

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The City of San José has published a Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) Plan that lays out the approach, strategies, targets, and tasks needed to transition traditional “gray” infrastructure to include GSI over the long term. Lotus Water was integral in developing the plan, which serves as an implementation guide for institutionalizing the concepts of GSI into standard municipal engineering, construction, and maintenance practices. As California’s weather becomes increasingly unpredictable and extreme, GSI strategies can provide the City with enhanced climate resiliency, local water supplies, and energy savings, consistent with the City’s sustainability goals. The GSI Plan is available here for public review and comment until May 15 - take a peek and share your thoughts!

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Green Thumbs + Green Nodes for Visitacion Valley

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Under sunny skies, community members and local officials gathered Saturday to celebrate the reopening of the newly spruced up McLaren Community Garden, which features a series of rain gardens designed by Lotus as part of the SFPUC’s Visitacion Valley Green Nodes project. The new green infrastructure will manage 800,000 gallons of stormwater each year from approximately 1.5 acres of impervious surface, while providing a pedestrian and habitat connection to McLaren Park from Leland Avenue. “I am thrilled to see the community and environmental improvement projects at McLaren Park,” said Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco). “We are lucky this year to have gotten so much rain, but that’s not always the case. The new rain garden will help us to reuse hundreds of thousands of gallons of rainwater each year. We need more projects like these that bring benefits to local communities while helping advance our broader environmental goals.” The ribbon-cutting ceremony was followed by community yoga, gardening activities, and a walking tour of the rain gardens where community members were able to see the bioretention areas in action after the rainy week. Attendees also learned about how the City is implementing green infrastructure through capital projects, programs, and grants to sustainably manage stormwater. Read more about the Visitacion Valley Green Nodes here!

Lotus Water Gets a Makeover

 

It’s been an exciting few months here at Lotus Water - new space, new hires, new projects, new logo, and now a new…

…website!

 

We wanted to update our look to capture the energy of the growing Lotus team and portfolio, with new features like our staff bios and news updates about what we’re up to, both in and outside the office.

 
 
 

We hope you stay awhile to look around, and be sure to check back for the latest in Lotus news!

 

Have ideas or feedback to share?

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New GI Grant Program is a HIT!

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The SFPUC GI Grant Program has launched!  Lotus helped developed the program and will be providing ongoing technical support during implementation.  The first public workshop about the program sold out with over 100 attendees, and the first applicant has already submitted!  The SFPUC aims to award $6M in GI grants during the first two years of the program, with up to $2M max per project. Learn more about the program and how a grant could benefit you!

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SF Chronicle Features Civic Center Public Realm Plan

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conceptual rendering (image credit: CMG)

conceptual rendering (image credit: CMG)

Lotus has been working on developing sustainable water systems for the Civic Center District area since 2014. More recently, we were on CMG’s team to assist them with developing a comprehensive plan for the public realm area of the Civic Center Plaza, Fulton Street, UN Plaza, garage/Brooks Hall, and adjacent streets. Our piece of this plan included over 100 iterations of complex water balance analyses!

Read more about the this ongoing plan in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Holidays @660 Mission

Taking advantage of our wonderful new shared space, Lotus celebrated our first holiday season at 660 Mission with our friends and neighbors at SITELAB. After a hard day’s work, everyone was treated to a Winter Wonderland-themed happy hour, complete with a lively white elephant gift exchange that went into extra innings, fueled by the office’s creative spirit...along with a tasty, Spiked Cocoa Bar featuring a homemade hot chocolate recipe!

Award for Holloway Green Street

The EPA recently awarded the Holloway Avenue Green Street Project with an Honorable Mention as part of its 2018 Performance and Innovation in the State Revolving Fund Creating Environmental Success (PISCES) program. The project (also referred to as the Lake Merced Green Infrastructure project) is located within the Ingleside Neighborhood and is one of eight SFPUC Early Implementation Projects that have been constructed or are currently being constructed as part of Sewer System Improvement Program. Completed in 2017, the project converts a nine-block stretch of an urban residential street and important bike route into a high-performing green street that also provides pedestrian and bike safety improvements. Parking lanes were reconstructed with pervious concrete pavement to manage roadway runoff and bioretention was incorporated into new corner bulbouts and sidewalk planters to manage sidewalk runoff while also adding greenery along the corridor. The new green infrastructure measures will remove approximately 1 million gallons of stormwater each year from the City’s combined sewer system.

Lotus Water led the planning, stormwater modeling and preliminary design of this project. Additionally, we are providing post-construction performance monitoring and analysis and performing maintenance inspections.

Read more about the PISCES award here!