Salesforce Tower, California, USA

Introduction

The imposing 61 story supertall skyscraper that is home to the Salesforce team (and many others) is a spectacular landmark addition to San Francisco’s skyline. The city’s tallest building, which tapers elegantly to over 1,000 feet, features an array of sustainability features, including an on-site blackwater recycling system that reduces its water footprint by a staggering 76%.

 It is, in fact, the United States’ largest on-site water recycling system in a commercial high-rise.

The product of a collaboration between Salesforce, the City of San Francisco and Boston Properties, Salesforce Tower represents the first partnership in the USA between a tenant, building owner and city government to support blackwater reuse in a commercial high-rise.

aquacell and Salesforce Tower

The Aquacell team were engaged to design the blackwater recycling system for the development, which entailed the considerable complexities that come with a retrofit project at scale.

At the core of Salesforce Tower’s water reduction plans is an impressive target of recycling over 40,000 gallons of blackwater each day for non-potable purposes such as toilet flushing and use in cooling towers. The Aquacell system at Salesforce tower reduces the annual water consumption of the building by the equivalent of approximately 16,000 local residents.

    the aquacell solution

    As international leaders in graywater and blackwater recycling, Aquacell designed, manufactured and installed the system following a comprehensive planning process. Working closely with Hathaway Dinwiddie and ACCO, Aquacell’s project team ingeniously repurposed a section of the carpark (equivalent to the footprint of just 16 vehicles) across two levels to accommodate the plant room. A network of pipes and holding tanks takes the blackwater generated by the structure’s daily operations through a six-step filtration process within an Aquacell S150 and it returns as clean, non-potable water for use in toilets and providing makeup water for the cooling towers.

    Today, Aquacell’s sophisticated S150 recycling system highlights the brilliant potential of blackwater recycling and the benefits of progressive regulation to ensure water security in a region that increasingly faces the challenges of drought conditions.