Public Works Department

610 Foster City Boulevard

The Public Works Department works to ensure the efficient operation, preservation and maintenance of the City/District’s structures and assets to protect the public’s general health and safety.

As one of the larger departments in the City, Public Works is organized into functional groups as follows:

 

Administration and Engineering:

This group manages the City/District Capital Improvement Program, monitors the use of the public rights of way in the City/District, ensures that developments conform to City/district codes and is responsible for maintaining the 2,055 street lights and 25 traffic signal systems as well as the traffic and transportation planning for the City.

 

Streets and Storm Drains:

This group is responsible for maintaining City streets as well as the storm drainage system. The Lagoon and Levee program is responsible for managing the 212-acre lagoon and peripheral levee system surrounding the City. The group strives to maintain the highest possible quality of water in the lagoon through allowing maximum water circulation with the bay.

The Streets and Storm Drains group protects public and private property by providing effective drainage for surface water runoff, thus promoting an attractive recreational environment for the use and enjoyment of Foster City residents.

The Foster City Lagoon as a drainage detention basin is designed to withstand successfully a storm of 100 year return frequency, or a storm of such severity that has a one percent chance of occurring any given year. The lagoon system has been further enhanced by the recent completion of the lagoon dredging project. The dredging project removed accumulated sediments and restored the lagoon depths and storm drainage outfalls to their original conditions.

How well does the Foster City lagoon system work as a drainage catch basin? During the El Niño rains of 1997, which were very close to a 100 year frequency severity, the City of Foster City experienced no flooding while surrounding cities in San Mateo County experienced major drainage problems.

The mission of the Street Maintenance and Cleaning program of the Streets and Storm Drains group is to keep City streets and rights-of-way in good repair to prolong their useful life and to ensure the safety and convenience of all users.

The Pavement Management System, a program developed by the Metropolitan Transportation Committee (MTC), is used to rank Foster City’s 45 miles of streets. Foster City has been recognized consistently by MTC as having excellent overall street quality and as having one of the best-maintained street systems in the MTC system.

 

Water:

This group is dedicated to providing the residents of Foster City with fresh, clean, healthful water. The Estero Municipal Improvement District purchases water from the San Francisco Public Utility Commission Hetch Hetchy system. For questions pertaining to water leaks and repairs, please call 286-8140. For billing or payment questions, contact the Financial Services Department at 286-3260. For emergency water supply, Foster City has a connection to the California Water Service which serves the City of San Mateo and a connection with the Mid-Peninsula Water District. The water system is in one pressure zone, which is fed from two water pressure reducing stations that reduces the water pressure from 120 psi to the desired range of 40 psi to 60 psi. Foster City has four water storage reservoirs with a total of 20 million gallons of storage. The distribution system consists of nearly 110 miles of looped water mains, over 3,300 valves and nearly 1,400 fire hydrants. The combination of the physical plant and a dedicated water maintenance department has been instrumental in achieving and maintaining a Class 2 Insurance Services Office (ISO) fire insurance rating (Class 1 being the highest, Class 10 the lowest). Water conservation information is available at City Hall and www.fostercity.org.

 

Wastewater Collection System:

The Wastewater Collection System (Collection System) group works to protect the health and safety of Foster City residents and to ensure the protection of the environment by effective treatment and disposal of all wastewater flows from commercial, industrial and residential users. The Collection System group works cooperatively with the City of San Mateo, which operates, maintains and repairs the Joint Wastewater Treatment facility located within the City of San Mateo. The Collection System group operates and maintains more than 66 miles of sanitary sewer lines, more than 3 miles of sanitary sewer force mains and 49 pumping stations. The Collection System group has been recognized by the local Santa Clara Chapter and the Statewide California Water Environment Association for their consistent top quality level of service and performance. The Collection System maintenance personnel were recipients of the 2005 California Water Environment Association Small Collection System of the Year Award for collection systems of 0-250 miles.

 

Waste Management:

The Public Works Department administers a waste management franchise agreement with Allied Waste Services (650-592-2411). The waste management company also provides curbside recycling of mixed paper, plastics, aluminum and tin cans, glass, cardboard, used motor oil, yard trimmings, cell phones and household batteries. In addition, Allied Waste Services offers a Business Organics Collection program to target the collection of food scraps from local businesses at a 25% discount from regular garbage collection fees. There is also an on-going cell phone and household batteries collection site located at City Hall. For 2006 (the most current reporting year), the City of Foster City achieved an overall diversion rate of 50%.

• Composting workshops are offered to Foster City residents year round at no charge through the Recreation Center.
• The City’s Construction and Demolition Ordinance requires applicants of qualified projects to recycle a minimum of 50% of the debris generated from construction projects.
• In October 2008, the City of Foster City selected NorCal as the future contractor to succeed Allied Waste Services in providing solid waste, recyclable and plant material collection services beginning January 1, 2011. Implementation of this contract will include single-stream curbside recycling collec tion and residential food waste collection programs.

For those residents who may periodically need a debris box, a permit from the Public Works Department must be obtained if the debris box is placed within the public right-of-way.