During our serious drought, the Civic Center CBD has been working with our service provider, MJM Services, to ensure that we maintain cleanliness while also adhering to City and State guidelines.
MJM Statement on Sidewalk Washing:
We have been working on this with all City and County of San Francisco departments. Here is where we stand currently:
- Because we are regularly cleaning human waste from the sidewalks on all blocks in the district, we need to continue steam cleaning to avoid a health hazard.
- The above is also a granted exemption from the current State law on water consumption reduction. The City has also informed us that our scheduled steam cleaning falls within the granted exemption and is not excessive.
- Our Steam Cleaning is already a water-efficient system, using 56% to 71% less water than hosing of sidewalks, both in consumption and runoff.
We have been researching water reclamation devices, but they are costly and only minimally effective.
- Beyond the cost of additional equipment of a water reclamation system ($9000.00 to $15,000 per unit), plus vehicle ($25,000+), there is a 50% increase in labor costs, and a slow-down in productivity.
- With Steam Cleaning, the water reclaimed is minimal, as much of the water in a steam cleaning system loop evaporates.
- Current systems use electric golf cart for movement. A reclamation system would require traditional diesel or gasoline vehicles, adding more pollution to the air.
Where the City is working closely with us is on landscaping and landscaping runoff.
This is, by far, the biggest single area for reduction in consumption outside of farming/food production, and is what the State is targeting.
As a company, we are working with our parks, the City and the Rec and Park department to best respond to the need for conservation. In fact, the Rec and Park Department has asked for reductions beyond what the State has asked for, so parks that we manage, along with other parks in the City, are leading the way for responsible reductions in usage.
