Living Schoolyards as Stormwater Infrastructure: San Francisco's Stormwater Schoolyards Program

“A Stormwater schoolyard” is a schoolyard that prioritizes multipurpose infrastructure by delivering stormwater performance while enhancing children’s learning and play opportunities. This presentation will cover how SF Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) started its partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) and how it scaled up over the last 13 years. Since the start of the partnership in 2007, there have been over 50 stormwater schoolyard projects implemented across San Francisco. This presentation will cover how SFPUC developed a strong working relationship with SFUSD, challenges and successes in completing demonstration projects, the impact of stormwater management regulations, and how San Francisco is scaling up the partnership to deliver joint capital projects that provide regional stormwater benefits. The presentation will also cover lessons learned from the RL Stevenson Stormwater Schoolyard Project, which was the first project to fully test the integration of stormwater schoolyard designs, funding and teams. The team will end with progress towards their next goal, the first joint SFPUC-SFUSD capital project.