At S.F.’s Anchor Brewing, the Beer’s for Drinking but the Water’s for Recycling
Anchor Brewing is San Francisco’s oldest operating brewery, producing its flagship steam beer since 1896. Now it’s making history in a new way.
The brewery will soon operate the city’s largest commercial water reuse facility. Instead of dumping out water after rinsing fermentation tanks and cleaning bottling lines, Anchor will collect, treat and recycle much of what used to go down the drain.
It’s not an undertaking to go into lightly. California is contending with one of its worst droughts in modern history, and water shortages are becoming an increasing part of day-to-day life. Getting Anchor’s water reuse system up and running is part of a broader effort by San Francisco water officials to preserve supplies by encouraging water users to recycle more and use less.