SMCSD/ Fort Baker recycled water feasibility study

Raines, Melton & Carella, Inc

Fort Baker is a former military facility located in the Marin Headlands, which is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The National Park Service is currently in the process of implementing a reuse plan for Fort Baker. An essential part of the Reuse Plan is to make Fort Baker a model sustainable National Park facility. The purpose of this report is to outline the most feasible option for providing recycled water at Fort Baker as part of the National Park Service’s sustainable approach. Recycled water use at Fort Baker would reduce potable water demand and would reduce treated wastewater discharges to San Francisco Bay. Recycled water is produced from wastewater. The use and production of recycled water is regulated by the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) and the California Department of Health Services (DHS). Currently, all wastewater generated from the Marin Headlands, which includes Fort Baker, Fort Cronkhite, and Fort Barry, flows through Fort Baker where it is pumped to the Sausalito-Marin City Sanitary District (SMCSD) for treatment. The current amount of wastewater generated at Fort Baker is expected to increase after the Reuse Plan has been implemented. The amount of recycled water that can be produced is limited by the amount of wastewater that is available. The total future wastewater average dry weather flow from the Marin Headlands is expected to be 54,600 gallons per day, including 27,900 gallons per day from Fort Baker. Recycled water demands at Fort Baker and surrounding areas were evaluated as part of this study. Due the facilities available, cost and the proximity of demands, demands outside of Fort Baker were not carried forward to the most feasible option development. The estimated future recycled water demands at Fort Baker are shown in Table ES-1 (see report for table). The irrigation demands shown in Table ES-1 would be seasonal and would occur from March through October. The non-irrigation demands from the proposed conference center would remain approximately constant throughout the year. Since there is more recycled water demand than wastewater flow during dry weather, not all recycled demands can be met, if only wastewater from the Marin Headlands is used.