2025 California Green Building Awards
Honor in Water
Salesforce Tower, a 61-story skyscraper in San Francisco with more than 1.4 million square feet of office space, is home to the largest onsite blackwater recycling system in any U.S. commercial high-rise. Designed to treat up to 30,000 gallons of wastewater per day, the system captures water from rooftop rain collection, cooling towers, sinks, toilets, and urinals. Treated water is then reused in the HVAC system and for toilet flushing. The system reduces the building’s freshwater demand by up to 76%, recycling an estimated 10.9 million gallons annually—the equivalent of 60 million bottles of water. Its water reuse technology provider oversees daily operations and maintenance of this LEED Core and Shell Platinum Certified project, and also leads advocacy and education around sustainable water reuse.
Globally, buildings use 14% of the world’s potable water, yet almost none reuse it. Salesforce Tower demonstrates how even the largest commercial buildings can significantly reduce potable water use while setting a replicable standard for sustainable urban infrastructure.