Historic San Francisco brewery and Massachusetts innovator introduce water recycling installation at Potrero Hill facility. Edward Norton joins the local ribbon cutting event.
Watertown, MA and San Francisco, CA – October 22 , 2021 – Today, Anchor Brewing, America’s first craft brewery, and Cambrian®, a commercial provider of distributed wastewater treatment and resource recovery solutions, announce a partnership along with the City of San Francisco that is set to drastically reduce the amount of water used operating a historic brewery in the Bay Area.
With the partnership, Cambrian expands its first-in-industry water energy purchase agreement (WEPA®) model, through which the company owns and operates its proprietary technology, charging per gallon treated. With a capacity of over 20,000,0000 gallons per year, Anchor’s system will treat and recycle 100% of the process water to SFPUC reuse quality, exceeding California Title 22 standards, and result in a drastic and immediate net water reduction at the brewery.
Treated water will be used exclusively for brewery processes like tank and floor washing, allowing the brewery to significantly mitigate the volume of water being drawn from natural sources at Anchor’s Potrero Hill brewery. This decrease in water use coupled with a reduction in downstream processing also accounts for an estimated reduction of up to 92 metric tons of carbon per year.
“Climate change will certainly amplify the water supply problem, but California’s core issue is a water management problem. We have plenty of water if commercial and industrial users commit to cleaning and reusing their wastewater, and it’s positive that cities like San Francisco are embracing this as policy. No water should be used once and now it’s not only economically viable, it’s advantageous to the bottom line” Edward Norton, Cambrian Board Member.
Established in San Francisco in 1896, Anchor pioneered the craft brewing movement and remains committed to innovation while crafting iconic beers that stand the test of time. Now, Anchor has adopted an innovative approach to sustainably brewing beer to reduce its water usage and overall carbon footprint.
The project is the largest commercial water reuse project in San Francisco history. The capacity to save 22,000,000 gallons of water is equivalent to the annual water usage of 1,300 San Francisco residents- saving millions in sewer fees for the city of San Francisco and Anchor Brewery.
“With this partnership we look forward to continuing Anchor’s sustainability efforts to reduce our brewery’s water usage and overall carbon footprint while focusing on what we care about most: brewing world class beers,” says Tom Riley, Brewmaster at Anchor Brewing Company. “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. Making changes that have a positive impact on the environment and our natural resources, of course, benefit everyone.”
"Spring Lane is excited to support Cambrian and Anchor Brewing in this project, which extends the infrastructure as a service model in renewable water. The positive impact of projects like this for companies and communities are vast.” - Rob Day, Partner & Co- Founder of Spring Lane Capital.
The groundbreaking public-private collaboration is supported with investment from Partners Spring Lane Capital, as well as a grant from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) Onsite Water Reuse Grant Program. The grant program provides unprecedented support for water and wastewater infrastructure, highlighting the importance of and trends toward dynamic and unique solutions that can guarantee breweries like Anchor environmental compliance and insulation from cost volatility.
“We are proud to join Anchor Brewing and Cambrian in celebrating this pioneering water reuse system,” said SFPUC Acting General Manager Michael Carlin. “The launch comes at just the right time with historic droughts plaguing our state. To rise to these challenges, the SFPUC must continue to support and explore an array of water reuse, recycling and conservation practices, and this partnership with Cambrian and Anchor is a great reflection of that commitment.”
“Cambrian is at the forefront of two disruptive movements in water and wastewater infrastructure: resource recovery and service-based solutions,” said Cambrian Founder and CEO, Matthew Silver. “We are thrilled to partner with Anchor Brewing and the SFPUC to realize the benefits in this one project”
