Anchor Brewing and the city of San Francisco have partnered on a water reuse project that will allow the brewery to both save water and recycle as many as 20 million gallons of it each year.
“As one of San Francisco’s oldest and most revered businesses, we knew we could depend on Anchor to pursue sustainable and responsible water use practices,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said in a press release. “It is fitting that Anchor is finalizing this water recycling system at a time when these kinds of initiatives are so important. As we face an uncertain future due to drought and climate change, businesses like Anchor are showing how we can adapt to the times.”
Anchor has secured a water treatment and reuse facility from Cambrian Innovation, a Watertown, Massachusetts-based water technology firm that has outfitted Russian River Brewing’s Windsor, California-based brewery with a similar system, according to its website. The water treatment system is scheduled to come online in January 2022.
Other breweries that use Cambrian’s technology include Charlton, Massachusetts-headquartered Tree House Brewing and Auburndale, Florida-headquartered Florida Brewery.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) contributed a $1 million grant toward the installation of the system through the agency’s Onsite Water Reuse Grant Program, which has offered $2.25 million in grants since its 2012 founding, according to the release. Those grants have helped fund systems that have saved 38 million gallons of water annually.
The SFPUC launched a water recycling program specifically for breweries in 2018 to help them cut down on water waste through grants that range from $250,000-$1 million. The new system at 125-year-old Anchor, which is the first brewery to receive a grant, is the largest commercial water reuse project in city history.
“With the help of a grant from our agency, Anchor is paving the way for what breweries can accomplish in San Francisco,” SFPUC acting general manager Michael Carlin said in the release. “We are proud to support this great partnership with Anchor Brewery, which lays a blueprint for how San Francisco is using innovation and ingenuity to address our water challenges.
“This is the kind of project we envisioned when we created a water recycling program specifically for San Francisco breweries,” he continued.
About two-thirds of San Francisco County, including Anchor’s Potrero Hill neighborhood, are in exceptional drought conditions, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS). Under these conditions:
- “Fields are left fallow; orchards are removed; vegetable yields are low; honey harvest is small;
- Fire season is very costly; number of fires and area burned are extensive;
- Fish rescue and relocation begins; pine beetle infestation occurs; forest mortality is high; wetlands dry up; survival of native plants and animals is low; fewer wildflowers bloom; wildlife death is widespread; algae blooms appear,” according to NOAA and NIDIS.
So far, 2021 is the seventh driest year in San Francisco since 1894, with nearly nine fewer inches of rainfall than normal, according to NOAA.
One gallon of beer typically requires about five to seven gallons of water to produce, including the water that breweries use to clean equipment and rinse packaging, according to the release. This water — the liquid that doesn’t become part of the beer itself — is known as “process water” and can be collected and reused onsite.
Last year, Sapporo-owned Anchor produced 50,000 barrels of beer — or 1.55 million gallons — according to the Brewers Association’s (BA) May/June issue of the New Brewer. The water the brewery will recycle can be used for cleaning non-contact surfaces, according to SFPUC guidelines.
“With this partnership we look forward to continuing Anchor’s sustainability efforts to reduce our brewery’s water usage and overall carbon footprint,” Anchor brewmaster Tom Riley said in the release. “We are celebrating our 125th anniversary this year with a renewed commitment to our San Francisco community and the values upon which Anchor was founded. Advancements such as this, which will have a positive impact on the environment and our natural resources, of course, benefit everyone.”