Water BOOST Enabling Innovation for Future Ready Cities 2025

At the governance level, collaboration between the SFPUC, the San Francisco Department of Public Health (Environmental Health), and state regulators such as the California State Water Resources Control Board is very strong. This relationship is supported by effective individual governance enablers (E1), including formalized permitting frameworks, proactive regulatory engagement and public-sector leadership in piloting and procurement. The SFPUC operates as both a service provider and a policy innovator, driving regulatory leadership and enabling cross-functional governance coordination. The aquapreneurship level presents an opportunity area for strengthening the ecosystem. Start-ups such as Epic Cleantec and Fluid Analytics – both recognized Top Innovators in the Forum’s UpLink Aquapreneur Innovation Initiative – are actively contributing innovative solutions. Yet opportunities remain to enhance their integration into structured multistakeholder collaboration frameworks and long-term scaling pathways. In particular, fragmented procurement processes and limited cross-sector platforms can make it difficult for early-stage innovators to engage consistently with public actors and investors. Strengthening cross- level enablers and establishing more coordinated multistakeholder mechanisms (E5) could help unlock greater alignment and scaling potential throughout the ecosystem. Nevertheless, San Francisco’s ecosystem benefits from several key enablers. Investors such as Echo River Capital and accelerators like Imagine H2O play important roles in supporting early- stage companies, offering investment, strategic guidance and access to international markets. Non-dilutive pilot funding from the SFPUC and public–private partnerships facilitates solution testing under real-world conditions. Creating more structured platforms could help build on this momentum by strengthening long-term connections between governance, innovation and investment communities. Aligning procurement processes more closely with private innovation, as well as supporting innovators in areas such as marketing and investor engagement, would further enhance scaling pathways. Knowledge stakeholders, including Stanford University, University of California Berkeley and the Pacific Institute, contribute valuable research and technical expertise, particularly in AI-enabled water management. Meanwhile, San Francisco’s citizens – characterized by high environmental awareness – provide a receptive social foundation for innovation adoption. The SFPUC’s leadership has positioned San Francisco as a regulatory pioneer and policy- driven enabler of water innovation. To take this momentum to the next level, the city can build on its strong foundation by formalizing multistakeholder collaboration, broadening scaling pathways for aquapreneurs and embedding innovation more deeply into its long-term water resilience strategy. San Francisco spotlight: The Non-Potable Water Ordinance and Epic Cleantec BOX 1 In 2015, San Francisco became the first US city to mandate on-site water reuse for large developments. Under the Non Potable Water Ordinance (or Article 12C of the Health Code)36 all new buildings 250,000 square feet or more must install and operate on-site systems to collect and treat grey water, rainwater or foundation drainage for non-potable uses such as toilet flushing and irrigation. Further amendments in 2021 lowered the threshold to 100,000 square feet. This ordinance transformed on-site reuse from a voluntary initiative into a binding regulatory standard, underpinning San Francisco’s transition towards circular, decentralized water systems and driving sustained demand for reuse technologies. One example is Epic Cleantec, a recognized Top Innovator from the Forum’s UpLink Aquapreneur Innovation Initiative. Originating from the Gates Foundation’s Reinvent the Toilet Challenge, Epic’s OneWater system is being deployed in high-profile projects throughout the US. Epic also operates the first approved grey-water system in San Francisco at the 40-storey Fifteen Fifty building, as well as the black-water system at the 61-storey Salesforce Tower, the nation’s largest in-building water-recycling installation. This case illustrates how the SFPUC’s policy mandate – backed by enabling permitting frameworks and financial grants – has de-risked market entry, encouraged technology adoption and enabled innovators like Epic to scale. It exemplifies how municipal leadership can actively bridge between governance and aquapreneurship, turning regulatory ambition into on-the-ground innovation impact. Water-BOOST: Enabling Innovation for Future-Ready Cities 23