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LAYPERSON'S GUIDE TO

California Wastewater

Prepared by the Water Education Foundation

WATER EDUCATION

FOUNDATION

717 K Street, Suite 317

Sacramento, CA 95814

916.444.6240

www.watereducation.org

www.aquafornia.com

The

Layperson's Guide to California Wastewater

is prepared

and distributed by the Water Education Foundation as a

public information tool.lt is part of a series of Layperson's

Guides that explore pertinent water issues in an objective,

easy-to-understand manner.

The mission of the Water Education Foundation, an

impartial, nonprofit organization, is to create a better

understanding of water resources and foster public

understanding and resolution of water resource issues

through facilitation, education and outreach.

For more information contact:

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WATER EDUCATION

FOUNDATION

717 K Street, Suite 317

Sacramento, CA 95814

Phone: (916) 444-6240

Fax: (916) 448-7699

www.watereducation.org

www.aquafornia.com

President:William R.Mills

Executive Director:Rita Schmidt Sudman

Editor:Sue McClurg

Author:Cindy Nickles

Editorial Assistance:Robin Douglas

Design:Curtis Leipold

Photo Credits:

Leslie Scopes Anderson

California Association of Sanitation Agencies

Coachella Valley Water District

City of Los Angeles, Department of Public Works

Lara Meeker with Los Angeles Waterkeeper

Orange County Sanitation District

Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District

Sacramento Suburban Water District

San Francisco Public Library

Graphics:

Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District

Introduction

Background

Legal and Regulatory Primer

Collection and Conveyance

Treatment and Disposal

Current Challenges

Case Studies

The Future

Printed 2013

ISBN: 978-1 -61 948-002-5

On the Cover:

The secondary clarifier at the Western Water Recycling Facility.

Photo by Western Municipal Water District, Michael J. Elderman Photography



Digesters at a wastewater

treatment plant destroy

pathogens, resulting in

biosolids that may be

recycled.

Today's Wastewater Systems

Does anyone really ever give a second thought about

what happens to the water used after toilet flushing,teeth

brushing, showering, doing laundry and washing dishes?

Usually out of sight, out of mind are the thoughts of

private citizens of the day-to-day inspection, preventive

maintenance and operation of sewer systems; repair and

replacement of aging sewer pipes and other infrastruc-

ture; collection of sewage and treatment of wastewater;

and sewage disposal and pollution prevention.

California has many different types of entities that

collect, convey, treat and dispose of their community's

wastewater. Under the special district classification,there

are sanitary districts, sanitation districts, water districts

and community services districts. Cities, counties and

joint powers authorities can also be wastewater service

providers.

To sum up their tasks, these entities are responsible for

almost all wastewater infrastructure planning, funding,

design and construction activities along with mainte-

nance and operation of the facilities for their ratepayers.

In general, they operate their own budgets with money

collected from property taxes and ratepayer fees and

spent within local service areas.

There are basic organizational differences among the

entities, however. For example, sanitary districts like the

Rancho Murieta Community Services District and Goleta

Sanitary District have elected boards, while the boards

of directors for sanitation districts like the Sacramento

Regional County Sanitation District and Sonoma County

Water Agency are comprised of members from county

boards of supervisors and city councils.

Agencies also differ in that some encompass both waste-

water collection and treatment services, while others

divide the duties. In the Bay Area, the Central Contra

Costa Sanitary District is responsible for both collecting

and treating wastewater. Coachella Valley Water District

provides wastewater collection and treatment services

in Riverside County and small portions of Imperial and

San Diego counties.ln Lake County,the city of Clear Lake

maintains the sewer lines within city limits,and the Clear

Lake Sanitary District is responsible for the treatment of

the sewage at the district treatment plant.

Public agency personnel and equipment are available

around the clock 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365

days a year to respond to residential, commercial and

industrial customer emergencies, including sewage

backups, overflows and loss of service.

In general,agencies that provide wastewater services are

public - not private. Their public origins can be traced

back to the leadership of Governor Hiram Johnson and

his push for public programs and social reforms against

a backdrop of private political corruption."With public

servants whose sole thought is the good of the state the

prosperity of the state is assured, exaction and extortion

from the people will be at an end, in every material aspect

advancement will be ours, development and progress

will follow as a matter of course, and popular govern-

ment will be perpetuated," he said in his first inaugural

address on Jan. 3, 1911.

The importance of these public agency services in the

daily lives of residents and business owners is the take-

home message in a city of Los Angeles Department of

Public Works video, "A Day Without Public Works." The

video available at www.youtube.com

also delivers the

message that support for infrastructure spending is

critical to accommodate upgrading and maintenance

of aging public works, including wastewater systems.

Today's wastewater agencies are also focused on water

reuse, byproducts recycling and renewable energy pro-

duction. Many are engaged in full scale water recycling

efforts designed to provide new sources of water supply

for Californians, while others are involved in producing

renewable energy such as digester gas that can be used

on-site or fed back into the electrical system to provide

green energy for others.

Glossary

Biosolids

The solid organic material that is separated during the wastewater treatment process, treated

according to regulations to the point that it is a usable product, and then recycled.

Clarify

To make clear or pure by separating and eliminating suspended solid material.

Coagulation

The

clumping together of solids so they can more easily be settled out or filtered out of water.

Collection System

The sewer system of pipes that carries wastewater from homes and businesses to a

treatment plant or reclamation plant.

Combined Sewer

A wastewater collection system that carries both raw sewage and stormwater to a

treatment plant.

Disinfection

Final step in the treatment process. Commonly, chlorine is added to the treated wastewater

to kill disease-causing organisms. There are other alternatives for achieving disinfection, including

ultraviolet light.

Effluent

Treated wastewater flowing out of a treatment plant.

Filtration

The process of water passing through porous material such as sand or synthetic membranes to

trap and remove particles.

Influent - Untreated wastewater that enters a wastewater treatment plant.

Prima ry Treatment

First major treatment in a wastewater treatment facility that removes solids and floating

matter using screening, skimming and sedimentation.

Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs)

Public wastewater systems built,operated and maintained by

government agencies.They include sewer pipes, maintenance holes (formerly called manholes), pumps,

treatment plants and other related infrastructure.

Reverse Osmosis

A method of removing very small particles, including salts or other ions, from water by

forcing water through a semi-permeable membrane.

Secondary Treatment

The biological portion of wastewater treatment that relies on the growth of micro-

organisms to clean the wastewater after primary treatment.Several different types of secondary processes

can be used, including activated sludge, trickling filters, pond systems and wetland systems.

Sedimentation

The settling of solids in a body of water using gravity.

Sludge

The organic solid waste material that settles out in the wastewater treatment process. If sludge is

converted into a usable end product, it is no longer called sludge.

TertiaryTreatment

Additional treatment processes used to clean wastewater even further following primary

and secondary treatment. Normally implies the removal of nutrients, such as phosphorous and nitrogen,

and a high percentage of suspended solids. Also known as advanced treatment.

Wastewater

The mixture of used water and human waste carried away by drains and sewers.

Water Recycling

The treatment of wastewater to make it suitable for a beneficial reuse, such as landscape

irrigation or groundwater recharge. A separate

Layperson's Guide to Water Recycling

has been published

by the Water Education Foundation and is available at

www.watereducation.orq

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•

al and Re

•

ulator Primer

Biological processes

are incorporated during

secondary treatment to

remove contaminants

dissolved in the wastewater.

"No one shall with malice pollute the waters where they

issue publicly.Should anyone pollute them, his fine shall

be ten thousand sestertii." - Sextus Juliano Frontinus,

Water Commissioner of the city of Rome, 97 AD (Source:

www.sewerhistory.oro)

Laws and regulations against water pollution have been

in existence for ages in one form or another with varying

degrees of effectiveness.

On the legislative front in the 1940s, both state and

federal governments began to seriously address the

increasing water quality problems resulting from unprec-

edented population growth and industrial development.

In California, problems with the assortment of water pol-

lution laws on the books ranged from overlapping regula-

tions and dueling government agencies to differing legal

interpretations.Among those advocating for action were

urban, industrial,agricultural and recreational water users.

As a result, the Legislature enacted the Dickey Water

Pollution Act (Dickey Act), which took effect Oct.1,1949.

Under the Dickey Act, a State Water Pollution Control

Board was created to set statewide policy and coordinate

state agency activities in controlling water pollution.

It also created nine Regional Water Pollution Control

Boards for each of the state's major watersheds to deal

with region-specific issues, depending on geography

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and precipitation,along with the needs of region-specific

recreation, agriculture and industry.

In 1948 Congress passed the Federal Water Pollution

Control Act, which over the years was often amended,

sometimes extensively.

Into the 1950s and 1960s, revisions were made to both

federal and state water pollution laws. In California, for

example,theWater Pollution Control Board was renamed

the State Water Quality Control Board to emphasize a

broader field of water quality issues than sewage and in-

dustrial waste control responsibilities.A follow-up change

toward a more coordinated water regulatory program

resulted in the merger of the State Water Quality Control

Board and State Water Rights Board into the State Water

Resources Control Board (State Water Board) in 1967.

In 1969 the Legislature enacted the centerpiece of

California's water quality legislation - the Porter-Cologne

Water Quality Control Act (Porter-Cologne Act).

In part, Section 13000 of the law says that"activities and

factors which may affect the quality of the waters of the

state shall be regulated to attain the highest water quality

which is reasonable,considering all demands being made

and to be made on those waters and the total values

involved, beneficial and detrimental,economic and social,

tangible and intangible."

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The Porter-Cologne Act authorized the StateWater Board

to develop statewide policy for water quality control. In

an excerpt,the law said,"The health,safety and welfare of

the people of the state requires that there be a statewide

program for the control of the quality of all the waters

of the state."

Also, it expanded the authority of the nine Regional Water

Quality Control Boards (Regional Water Boards), which

were the former Regional Water Pollution Control Boards.

As the Porter-Cologne Act said,"Factors of precipitation,

topography, population, recreation, agriculture, industry

and economic development vary from region to region

within the state;and that the statewide program for water

quality control can be most effectively administered

regionally, within a framework of statewide coordina-

tion and policy."

Based on watersheds, the Regional Water Boards are

referred to by specific names:North Coast,San Francisco

Bay, Central Coast, Los Angeles, Central Valley, Lahontan,

Colorado River Basin, Santa Ana and San Diego. Under

their new authority,they were to establish region-specific

water quality standards and adopt water quality control

plans, issue permits for the discharge of treated waste-

water that specified maximum-allowed levels of pollut-

ants, monitor discharges and manage polluted runoff.

Together the State Water Board and Regional Water

Boards are referred to as the California Water Boards

and are included under the umbrella of the California

Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) headquar-

tered in Sacramento.

Meantime back on Capitol Hill, environmental-related

activities had become a national priority following the

establishment of the U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) in 1970. The public, Congress and the

president rallied behind a consistent, comprehensive,

long-term approach to water pollution control.

President Richard Nixon's State of the Union address Jan.

22,1970, included the following excerpt:"Clean air, clean

water, open spaces - these should once again be the

birthright of every American. ... I shall propose to this

Congress a $10 billion nationwide clean waters program

to put modern municipal waste treatment plants in every

place in America where they are needed to make our

waters clean again, and do it now."

Congress passed the Federal Water Pollution Control

Act Amendments of 1972 (Public Law 92-500), referred

to as the Clean Water Act, and now the main federal law

on water pollution in the United States. So influential

was California's Porter-Cologne Act that sections of it

were used as the basis to write the CWA. A federal-state

partnership, its goal was to "restore and maintain the

chemical, physical and biological integrity of the nation's

waters."

Under the authority of EPA, the new law required

standards for surface water quality, mandated sewage

treatment and regulated wastewater discharges into the

nation's surface waters. It would set water quality goals,

guidelines and technology based limits, but individual

states, territories and tribes would primarily administer

and enforce the federal programs on their own, includ-

ing the development of water quality standards. The

CWA also set the stage for state and federal government

entities to provide significant technical and financial

assistance to the regulated community.

During the early stages of the CWA implementation, the

focus was on designing, building and operating waste-

water treatment systems for pollution control. Federal

and state funding programs, including California bond

measures passed by voters, helped communities finance

municipal wastewater collection and treatment facilities.

For California to operate under the CWA, the state's

Porter-Cologne Act was amended to authorize the State

Water Board and Regional Water Boards to implement

the federal programs (see page 10).

All aspects of the

wastewater treatment

process are featured on

a school education "job

shadowing" tour for high

school students and a

teacher.

In 1972 Congress passed

the Clean Water Act.

Discharge Permit Program

The CWA made it against the law to discharge pollutants

from what are called"point sources"(including discharges

from wastewater treatment plant pipes, ditches or other

conveyances)"into the waters of the United States"unless

authorized by a permit under a program called the

National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES).

California law requires wastewater treatment plants to

have permits if they discharge treated wastewater to land.

Each and every publicly owned wastewater treatment

plant in California must have an individualized permit

issued by its Regional Water Board to comply with a

very detailed and complex set of operating conditions

to discharge treated wastewater. In the 1970s permits

were 10- to 20-page documents. Today some permits

can exceed 200 pages, but they average between 150

and 175 pages.

Permits have many requirements. They set maximum

limits on concentrations and mass emissions of pollutants

in treated wastewater before it can be discharged, along

with monitoring and reporting requirements. A permit

will also specify if additional actions are required such as

industrial pretreatment or sewer overflow programs. By

law, the specific methods undertaken in order to meet

specifications in the permit are at the discretion of the

wastewater agency.

Permitting is not a one-size-fits-all process. No two

discharge permits are identical because each permit

is customized for the type of water body the treated

wastewater is released into (whether a lake or stream,

for example) and the uses of that water body (whether

for swimming or drinking,for example).Similar to driver's

license renewals, permits must also be renewed at regular

intervals and under certain conditions can also be denied.

Permits can be re-opened prior to expiration depending

on the circumstances.

Treated wastewater discharged by treatment plants

must meet limits that are set for wastewater contami-

nants, called constituents, by the Regional Water Boards.

Constituents vary widely, but the major classes are nutri-

ents, microorganisms,salts, metals, natural organic matter

and synthetic organic compounds. Limitations involving

concentration (in parts per million or milligrams per liter)

and/or mass (pounds per day or grams per day) are used

for measuring and controlling pollutants.

Twenty first century scientific and technological advance-

ments are making it possible to detect minute levels of

compounds in the environment.Wastewater profession-

als, scientists, regulators and others are monitoring these

contaminants, referred to as "emerging constituents."

(See Challenges chapter.)

As part of the law, Congress established the National

Pretreatment Program to remove industrial pollutants

such as copper, lead, nickel, other heavy metals and

organic compounds before they reach the public waste-

water system.The practice is called "pretreatment."

Pretreatment programs, which are included in discharge

permits issued to all but the smallest wastewater

treatment agencies, require industries to remove their

own contaminants before their wastewater enters

into the sewer system where it can cause damage to

sewer collection systems, interference with wastewater

treatment plant operations and contamination of sewage

sludge.

For example, since 1973 Goleta Sanitary District in

Santa Barbara County has been operating a pretreatment

program. Under its Industrial Waste Control Program,

industrial and commercial customers are required to

keep hazardous substances out of the sewer collection

system. The goals of this program are to protect ocean

water quality and the district's treatment plant.

Regional Water Boards monitor wastewater treatment

plants for compliance with their permits, including inspec-

tions and reviews of water quality reports.Noncompliance

can result in heavy fines ranging upward of $1 million. A

Cease and Desist Order may also be issued to a wastewater

treatment plant for a violation or threatened violation of

a waste discharge requirement and permit. Depending

on the circumstance,the order could require the plant to

comply immediately, include a schedule for compliance

or take a preventive action.

Regional Board Requirements

Under the law, each Regional Water Board must develop

and adopt a long-range Basin Plan, also called a Water

Quality Control Plan. Basin Plans are required to include

water quality objectives, policies, regulations and

implementation programs along with the designated

"beneficial uses" of the water bodies within the regions

such as drinking, swimming,fishing,protection of aquatic

life and agricultural irrigation. The law calls for them to

be reviewed on a three-year cycle for updating with new

science, water quality issues and laws and regulations.

The Regional Water Boards must also make lists of water

bodies and constituents in each water body that are not

meeting water quality standards as set in their Basin

Plans. These lists are called 303(d) lists after the section

in the CWA.

California's 2008-10 303(d) list, the most recent available,

numbered 1,133 water body segments for all nine Regional

Water Boards and included rankings of high, medium or

low priorities. It is revised in even-numbered years.

For each lake, river, bay,ocean area or other body of water

on the 303(d) list, the Regional Water Board prepares a

written restoration plan, similar to a pollution budget for

the water body. The plan, called a Total Maximum Daily

Load (TMDL), includes all sources of pollutants, explains

how the particular water body doesn't measure up to the

water quality standards set for it,offers an action plan for

how it will improve water quality and develops a schedule

for actions.The TMDLs, or written reports, must account

for all sources of the pollutants that caused the water to

be listed. Complex TMDLs can cost more than $1 million

to prepare and significantly more to implement.

The Lake Tahoe TMDL, a Nevada and California bi-state

plan, was approved by EPA in 2011 after 10 years of

scientific studies.To reach the goal of returning the lake

to almost 100 feet of clarity within 65 years, the report

requires reductions in sediments and nutrients to be

achieved in each of the four primary sources of these

pollutants:urban stormwater runoff,forest runoff, stream

channel erosion and atmospheric deposition.TheTMDL

outlines measures to reduce each source.To reduce the

amount of fine sediment and nutrients entering the

lake, the California Lahontan Regional Water Board and

the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection will

coordinate with local jurisdictions, including the counties,

departments of transportation, the city of South Lake

Tahoe and other stakeholders.

To address and regulate water quality pollution problems

that cross regional boundaries or are statewide,the State

Water Board may also develop what are called Water

Quality Control Plans, and has adopted plans to address

enclosed bays and estuaries, ocean waters, temperature

(thermal), and the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San

Joaquin Delta Estuary.

Secondary clarifiers

separate the solids froni

the liquids during the

wastewater treatment

process.



Because of mercury pollution issues in the San Francisco

Bay, the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Board set a

Mercury TMDL and issued a watershed permit that must

be followed by public wastewater treatment plants,

generally referred to as publicly owned treatment works

or POTWs, and others in the Bay Area. To help comply

with the TMDL,the Bay Area Pollution Prevention Group

has initiated outreach programs to dental assistants and

hygienist schools to remind them to practice mercury

best management practices.

The federal and state water quality laws are dynamic

laws that continue to be amended to reflect new

issues, including recent changes addressing biosolids

management.

The public has many opportunities to participate in State

Water Board and Regional Water Board activities — from

formal hearings to informal collaborative stakeholder

sessions. People may also sign up for mailing and e-mail

lists, watch webcasts and webinars, and access online

databases. (See References sidebar.)

Wastewater agencies are also regulated by other

government agencies (see sidebar) and may fall under

the jurisdiction of other laws, including the California

Environmental Quality Act and federal Clean Air Act. An

example would be the air pollution laws in Southern

California's South Coast Air Basin that trigger local waste-

water agencies to follow regulations for combustion

devices and emergency engines.

Primary Agencies Involved in Wastewater

California State Water Resources Control Board -

Created by the Legislature in 1967,the five full-time mem-

ber State Water Board protects water quality by setting statewide policy, coordinating and supporting the

Regional Water Board efforts and reviewing petitions that contest Regional Water Board actions.The State

Water Board is also solely responsible for allocating surface water rights. The members are appointed to

four-year terms by the governor and confirmed by the Senate.

http://www.swrcb.ca.gov

Regional Water Quality Control Boards -There

are nine Regional Water Boards, each with seven part-time

members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. They develop basin plans for their

hydrologic areas, govern requirements/issue waste discharge permits, take enforcement action against

violators and monitor water quality.

http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterboards

map.shtml

Region 1 -

North Coastal Regional Water Quality Control Board

Region 2 -

San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board

Region 3 -

Central Coastal Regional Water Quality Control Board

Region 4 -

Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board

Region 5 -

Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board

Region 6 -

Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board

Region 7 -

Colorado River Regional Water Quality Control Board

Region 8 -

Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board

Region 9 -

San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) -

Established in 1970, EPA is a federal regulatory agency

responsible for protecting environmental quality throughout the nation. It acts in an oversight role over

the State and Regional Water Boards and their implementation of the Clean Water Act (CWA). EPA's Office

of Wastewater Management, under the CWA, works with EPA regions, states, local governments, tribes,

the private sector and non-governmental organizations to regulate discharges into surface waters such

as wetlands, lakes, rivers, estuaries, bays and oceans. California is under the jurisdiction of EPA Region 9

(Pacific Southwest).

California Air Resources Board -

http://www.arb.ca.gov

California Department of Fish and Wildlife -

http://www.dfg.ca.gov

California Department of Pesticide Regulation -

http://www.cdpr.ca.gov

California Department of Public Health -

http://www.cdph.ca.gov

Collection and Conve ance

Although wastewater collection systems are mostly

invisible, the public can rest assured that vast labyrinths

of pipelines are beneath their feet collecting and moving

raw sewage away from homes, schools, restaurants,

shops and other businesses and into the principal sewer

mains also buried deep under streets, alleys or other

rights-of-way.

Local wastewater agencies own and are typically respon-

sible for the entire wastewater collection and conveyance

infrastructure. One possible exception is sewer laterals

that extend from the residence or building to the sewer

main line that is shared with others. Sewer laterals can

be owned by the wastewater agency or by the private

property owners.

Sewer mains connect to collectors and trunk lines, all

increasingly larger pipes that may eventually become

interceptor pipes — some interceptor pipes are 10 feet

or larger in diameter.These pipes convey wastewater to

treatment plants. Like tunnels, the larger pipes can be

walked through for maintenance, repairs and inspec-

tions. Most everyone has seen the metal plates that

cover maintenance holes (formerly called manholes) that

provide access to the sewers.

Because of California's diverse geography, a number

of system configurations are used. Gravity, pumping

plants or a combination of both conveys wastewater

to treatment plants. In a low-lying area such as a beach

community or a mountainous location, pumping plants

or lift stations are necessary to move wastewater under

pressure to higher elevations. Pressurized pipes coming

out of pumping plants are called force main sewers, or

force mains. Drop structures move wastewater from

higher to lower elevations, and siphons move it under-

neath freeways and rivers.

In Contra Costa County, for example, about 45 million

gallons of wastewater from more than 461,000

residential and more than 5,000 business customers

flow each day primarily by gravity through more than

1,500 miles of underground pipe in Central Contra

Costa Sanitary District's collection system to its Martinez

Treatment Plant.

Los Angeles has one of the largest collection systems

in the world, including more than 6,700 miles of public

sewers serving a population of more than 4 million. Its

wastewater collection system, which contains 140,000

maintenance holes, conveys about 400 million gallons

per day of flow from residences and businesses.

South Tahoe Public Utility District's collection system

includes 330 miles of sewer lines, 42 lift stations and

17,000 connections.

As raw sewage travels from Point A to Point B, there is

the risk of wastewater overflows (sewer spills) caused by

clogged pipes, tree roots that block pipes, deteriorating

and aging pipes, and heavy rain storms that overwhelm

the system with too much water.

To keep sewers working, agencies focus on a wide variety

of operations and maintenance activities. Crews of

maintenance workers inspect sewer systems manually

and by closed-circuit television,clean the insides of pipes,

remove roots,construct new sewer pipes or repair aging

ones and provide emergency response for overflows

and backups.

This sewer project consists

of approximately 34,300

lineal feet of 33-inch and

42-inch diameter gravity

sewer pipeline.

Resources

Bay Area Clean Water Agencies -

A local government agency created by a joint powers agreement in 1984.

Its membership includes wastewater agencies that provide sanitary sewer services to more than 7 million

people living in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. Principal members include the Central Costa

County Sanitation District,the city of San Jose, East Bay Dischargers Association, East Bay Municipal Utility

District and San Francisco Public Utilities District.

http://bacwa.orq

alifornia Association of Sanitation Agencies -

A statewide trade association of municipalities, special

districts and joint powers agencies that provide wastewater collection, treatment and water recycling

services. CASA was founded in 1955 and CASA members represent more than 90 percent of the sewered

population of California.

www.casaweb.orq

Central

Rural Water Association -

Provides on-site technical assistance and specialized training for rural

water and wastewater systems.

http://www.calruralwater.orq

Central Valley Clean Water Association -

A regional association representing wastewater treatment and

collection system agencies in the Central Valley.

http://www.cvcwa.orq

California Water Environment Association -

A statewide nonprofit public benefit association whose mission

is to protect the water environment by educating, training and certifying the competency of individuals

who work in the water quality field. Approximately 80 percent of CWEA's more than 9,000 members work

for municipal wastewater agencies and collection systems, both large and small, throughout California.

www.cwea.orq

Southern California Alliance of Publicly Owned Treatment Works -

A nonprofit corporation of more

than 90 wastewater treatment and collection system agencies

and one large regional water treatment

agency.Together, its membership collects and/or treats the wastewater for more than 16 million Southern

Californians in seven counties.

www.scapl.org

My Water Quality Website -

Sponsored by the California Water Quality Monitoring Council, a joint partner-

ship between the California Environmental Protection Agency, the California Natural Resources Agency,

and several stakeholder organizations from both inside and outside state government. State legislation

in 2006 mandated water quality monitoring and assessment activities be coordinated and information

be made available to decision makers and the public via the Internet.

http://www.CaWaterOuality.net

Treatment and Dis

osal

Water Quality

Historical accounts point to wastewater treatment as

a relatively modern practice. By the 1920s, wastewater

treatment was a mechanical process involving settling,

skimming off floating materials and removing solids. By

the end of World War II, technological advances made

biological processes possible. In the 1970s when strict

environmental regulations were implemented, these

original systems needed to be upgraded and supple-

mented.

Today's wastewater treatment plants are often com-

plex facilities that use modern technology and reflect

advancements in engineering principles and practices,

chemistry and microbiology. The wastewater field has

a language of its own. A few examples of terms that

might be unfamiliar to the layperson include food-

to-microorganism ratio, sludge age, detention time,

hydraulic loading, organic loading and mean cell reten-

tion time. These terms are often related with complex

mathematical equations that help determine the size

and types of equipment that are needed to clean the

wastewater.

The initial step in the wastewater treatment process

is called

preliminary treatment

and begins as all raw

sewage from domestic and commercial sources enters

the treatment plant at the plant's "headworks."

Wastewater flows through bar screens (influent screens)

typically made of steel or iron bars. Most bar screen

spacing is less than one inch, but bars can be up to several

inches apart. Large objects ranging from trash and toys

to rocks and branches that could clog or damage plant

machinery are mechanically raked and screened out

from the sewage.

After screening, the wastewater enters a grit removal

device.There are several types of devices to remove grit,

but the most common one is a large tank, where the

objects small enough to get through the influent screens

such as sand,coffee grounds,egg shells, jewelry and coins

can sink to the bottom by gravity.The collected debris is

usually hauled off to a landfill for disposal.

After leaving the grit chamber, wastewater is ready for

primary treatment.

During this mostly physical process,

wastewater is piped into primary settling or sedimenta-

tion tanks where heavy particles sink and light particles

float. Mechanical arms slowly move across the top of the

tank collecting the lighter materials like soap, oils and

grease.Sometimes referred to as"scum,"it is skimmed off

the top,and then removed from the tank.Heavier material

that settles to the bottom of the tanks is removed with

mechanical arms that move it to a location where it

can be pumped out to the tanks.This material is called

"primary sludge"or"primary solids."

With very few exceptions, wastewater is further treated

beyond the primary treatment stage.

During

secondary treatment,

biological processes are

incorporated to remove contaminants dissolved in the

wastewater.One of the methods used is called activated

sludge. Wastewater goes into large rectangular tanks,

with air pumped in to promote the growth of naturally

occurring microorganisms that feed on organic materials.

After the microorganisms have absorbed and digested

the organic materials,the wastewater is sent into second-

ary sedimentation tanks (secondary clarifiers),where the

microorganisms eventually settle to the bottom and

are removed.The heavier materials that have settled to

the bottom are called "secondary sludge" or "second-

ary solids." Secondary solids are usually sent to solids

handling facilities for further processing.

By the time secondary treatment is done, 85 percent or

more of the solids and organic materials are removed

from the wastewater. Activated sludge is just one

example of a treatment process that meets secondary

treatment objectives.

The first major wastewater

treatment phase is called

"primary" and uses

screening, skimming and

sedimentation processes.



Ultraviolet light (UV)

lamps are among the

options for disinfecting

wastewater.

In most situations,secondarytreatment must be followed

by a

disinfection process

to kill harmful pathogens

(protozoa, bacteria and viruses). Chlorine is one of the

most common disinfectants. When chlorine is used, it

is often necessary to remove the chlorine with other

chemicals before the wastewater is put back into the

waterways.There are several other options for disinfect-

ing wastewater such as ultraviolet light disinfection.

Biosolids Management

At most wastewater treatment plants, the scum, primary

solids and secondary solids undergo additional treatment

— often through a process called

anaerobic digestion.

In this process, the material is heated to 100-plus

degrees Fahrenheit in tanks called digesters. The heat,

breakdown of organic material and lack of oxygen in

the digesters destroy pathogens. When the process is

complete,the solids are suitable for recycling as a fertilizer

in certain conditions and are now appropriately called

"biosolids."

Other processes that can be used to turn wastewater

solids into biosolids include composting and heat drying

into pellets.

Many wastewater agencies have managed the solids

remaining after the treatment processes by drying them

in the open air or through belt presses to remove water

and then hauling them to landfills for disposal.

However in recent decades biosolids have gained

recognition as an important resource that can be

recycled. In 1993 EPA published landmark regula-

tions that set standards for safely recycling biosolids.

Under certain circumstances, secondary treatment and

disinfection may not make wastewater clean enough

to release back into the environment. To meet more

stringent public health and environmental regulations,

many wastewater agencies have added more advanced

wastewater treatment processes between secondary

treatment and disinfection.

This additional step is called is called

tertiary treatment,

derived from the Latin word, meaning "of a third," or

advanced treatment.

During these processes, various

methods can be used to remove a variety of constituents.

One form of advanced treatment is filtration, which is

used to remove very small particles.A common filtration

process involves passing wastewater through a bed of

sand or other fine-grained material. Filtration can also

be achieved by passing wastewater through synthetic

microfiltration membranes with very small openings

that leave the particles behind. After sufficient filtration,

wastewater can be used for almost any purpose except

direct human consumption.

Wastewater treatment plants can be designed to remove

nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. This can

be achieved through stand-alone advanced treatment

processes, or the capability can be built-in to certain

types of secondary treatment processes.

Biosolids are also regulated under other laws, including

the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and Clean

Air Act.

Since these laws passed,wastewater agencies have been

placing an increasing emphasis on ensuring that benefits

of organic matter and nutrients in biosolids are put to

good use.To reduce energy costs and comply with stricter

environmental regulations, and as a result of science and

technology, there are green solutions associated with

solids and biosolids management.

Wastewater agencies are contributing to California's

renewable energy mandate via the production and use of

methane from microbial activity in anaerobic digestion.

In an effort to enhance biogas production,many are now

accepting hauled in organic waste such as fats, oils and

grease and food waste for anaerobic digestion. These

practices not only help fulfill renewable energy mandates

but also help divert organic waste out of landfills,fulfilling

legislative mandates.

As one example, the East Bay Municipal Utility District's

(EBMUD) waste-to-power program uses biogas emitted

by the microorganisms to generate renewable energy to

power its wastewater treatment plant and sell the excess

back to the electrical grid.

A graphic illustrating the city of San Diego's Metro

Biosolids Center and a video can be accessed from

this link: http://www.sandiego.gov/mwwd/facilities/

metrobiosolids.shtml

Before biosolids are recycled as a soil amendment,

fertilizer or compost ingredient, they must comply with

local, state and federal regulations and are tested for

pollutants, including nutrients, pathogens, heavy metals

and synthetic organic compounds. Comprehensive

risk assessments by EPA continue as does research by

universities across the country, including California.

Wastewater agencies also fund research to answer

new or outstanding questions relative to the safety of

biosolids recycling.

Nevertheless some people still have uncertainty

regarding the safety of biosolids recycling. Several local

governments, including counties, have enacted limita-

tions or even bans on beneficial use and are the subject

of litigation.

Water Recycling

Water and wastewater agencies, from large to small and

from all corners of California, are producing and using

recycled water — the highly treated effluent that flows

out of the treatment plant. Recycled water is treated to

meet local, state and federal regulatory guidelines for

its intended end use, which can range from construc-

tion activities and cooling water for powerplants to golf

course irrigation and toilet flushing.

Recycled water increasingly is being used as a viable

water source in California because water management

is shifting away from the construction of new dams and

reservoirs. New water treatment technologies are now

considered a realistic way of maintaining a supply of

water to meet demand.

The California State Legislature has set specific goals

for the amount of water recycling in the future. That

includes increasing the use of recycled water by at least

1 million acre-feet (an acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons

or enough water to fill a football field to a depth of one

foot) per year by 2020, and by at least 2 million acre-feet

per year by 2030.

Purple pipes and related equipment and posted signage

Recycled water is delivered

differentiate a recycled water system from a drinking

through separate purple pipe

water system.

iufrastructure to differentiate

it from the system used to

More information is available in the

Layperson's Guide

to Water Recycling,

published by the Water Education

deliver drinking water.

Foundation. Purchase it online at www.watereducation.

orq or call 916.444.6240.



Current Challen

organizations. As more scientific research is completed,

Research results from a project report published by the

Aging Wastewater Infrastructure

state and federal agencies continually add requirements

National Water Research Institute on "Source, Fate, and

The cornerstone of municipal wastewater systems is

infrastructure, but it is aging and sometimes stressed by

population growth.There is also the uncertainty of climate

change-related impacts.

To manage the increased wastewater from a population

of 38 million that is projected by the Public Policy Institute

of California to reach 42 million to 48 million people by

2020, wastewater systems and services must expand.

The question, of course, is how to pay for such large but

necessary investments.

Today's Californians are benefiting from local wastewater

systems built during the last century and paid for primar-

ily by federal government funds and grant programs.The

biggest infusion of federal and state funds occurred in the

decade after passing the Clean Water Act in 1972.Current

customer rates and fees reflect those former investments.

According to EPA, treatment plants typically have a use-

ful life of 20 to 50 years before they require expansion or

rehabilitation.Sewer pipes have life cycles that can range

from several decades up to more than 100 years,depend-

ing on the type of material used, where they are located

and how they were installed. EPA has estimated that the

nation must invest $390 billion over the next 20 years to

replace existing wastewater systems and build new ones

to meet increasing demand.

In a similar vein, the American Society of Civil Engineers

(ASCE) Report Card 2012 reported that the state's

infrastructure investment has not kept up with its

growing population demands and is continuing to delay

much-needed renewal and maintenance.

According to the ASCE Report Card,California's infrastruc-

ture earned an overall grade of"C"and needs an additional

annual investment of $65 billion.The state's wastewater

system infrastructure earned a C+.The annual investment

needed to raise its wastewater infrastructure grade from

a C+ to a B is $4.5 billion annually for the next 10 years,

according to the report card.

To finance the long-overdue capital improvement projects

to upgrade or replace existing wastewater systems, a

number of ideas are being discussed in financial circles.

They include creating a long-term federal financing

source such as a federal clean water trust fund that would

leverage public and private funding for infrastructure

projects, including wastewater systems. Financing from

state and local governments could also come via general

obligation bonds, sales taxes, general tax revenues, or

special assessments. Public-private partnerships are

another option.

Without state and federal funding available, the primary

source of revenues for fixing aging wastewater collection

systems and treatment facilities are the fees charged to

individual ratepayers. Under voter-approved Proposition

218, ratepayer approval is necessary before rates can be

increased to pay for operations or capital improvement

projects. Public rate-setting processes include written

notices, known as Proposition 218 notices, and public

hearings. Because municipal wastewater agencies are

governed by city councils, county boards of supervisors

or elected boards, their meetings are always open to the

public, with opportunities available for providing com-

ments. Many agency documents, reports and contracts

are available to the public also.

Constituents of Emerging Concern

A topic in and out of the news and on the minds of

the public is the presence of constituents of emerging

concern (CECs) in water bodies, including wastewater

effluent, which can now be detected by advanced

scientific testing. CECs, a broad and generic term, are

also referred to as emerging constituents, endocrine-

disru pting chemicals (EDCs) or pharmaceuticals and

personal care products. They are also called non-

traditional pollutants.

CECs can be categorized into the following groups:

synthetically and naturally occurring hormones; personal

care products; pharmaceutically active compounds;

pesticides, herbicides and insecticides; industrial and

household chemicals; disinfection by-products; and

metals.

Although they are not directly regulated by the state or

federal government, CECs have the attention of the State

Water Board, which has adopted an amendment to its

Recycled Water Policy related to CECs. Some individual

discharge permits also require monitoring of CECs.

Research and studies continue on CEC issues, including

occurrence;effects on people,animals,aquatic life and the

environmentand treatment methods, by the wastewater

community and state and federal government,along with

other entities such as statewide and national wastewater

to address contaminants when they are proven to be

harmful.

According to the Bureau of Reclamation's "Secondary/

Emerging Constituents Report" (2009), "approximately

87,000 emerging compounds have been identified as

possible EDCs (EPA, 2008)." In its conclusion, the report

explained that, "CECs are diverse compounds whose

characteristics vary even within the same subcategory."

Among the report's recommendations were that

consideration should be given to the following: "The

willingness of the public to pay for potentially costly

mitigation efforts;the importance of CECs in surface water

and drinking water relative to other public health and

environmental concerns; and the potential loss or gain

related to waiting for more information or taking action

despite uncertainties regarding CECs."

Climate Change

According to EPA's Climate Change Basics website,

(www.epa.gov/climatechange/basics),

climate change

"refers to any significant change in the measures of

climate lasting for an extended period of time. In other

words, climate change includes major changes in tem-

perature, precipitation or wind patterns, among other

effects, that occur over several decades or longer."

Breaking down the definition,EPA identifies global warm-

ing as the "recent and ongoing rise in global average

temperature near earth's surface. ... However, global

warming itself represents only one aspect of climate

change."

Impacts that climate change could have on wastewater

and drinking water utilities were detailed in a 104-page

report, "Confronting Climate Change: an Early Analysis

of Water and Wastewater Adaptation Costs," released in

October 2009 by the National Association of Clean Water

Agencies and the Association of the Metropolitan Water

Agencies, prepared by CH2M Hill. The report estimated

the adaptation costs for those facilities could range from

$448 billion to $944 billion through 2050.

"Climate change will impact wastewater utilities on a

number of fronts," the report said. Among the climate-

related challenges addressed in the report were extreme

storm events and overall precipitation increases;the need

for additional flood protection measures such as levees,

seawalls and pumping; and wastewater cooling systems

to protect fisheries due to increased temperatures.

Transport of Endocrine Disruptors, Pharmaceuticals,

and Personal Care Products in Drinking Water Sources

in California" will be used to better assess any potential

health and environmental impacts of CECs.

According to the report,"The total estimated Net Present

Value (NPV) cost of wastewater system climate change

adaptation in the U.S. is between $123 billion and $252

billion above and beyond existing wastewater system

infrastructure upgrade, renewal and replacement pro-

grams that EPA estimates to be between $300 billion and

$500 billion for combined drinking water and wastewater

for the 2007-2027 period.The NPV early estimate includes

both capital and O&M cost estimates."

Wastewater agencies across the state are improving the

energy efficiency of their operations to reduce demands

on fossil fuel energy sources,producing renewable energy

using biogas, solar and wind, and reducing their green-

house gas emissions.They are also developing strategies

to adapt to expected changes in climate.

Among the green efforts agencies are encompassing

include converting from gasoline-fueled vehicle fleets to

cleaner burning, lower emission alternative fuel vehicles

and changing to solar panel installations to generate

electricity.

The California Wastewater Climate Change Group has

for the past several years led an effort for science-based,

cost-effective climate change solutions and served as

a resource for wastewater agencies on climate change

issues. It is a collaboration of the California Association

of Sanitation Agencies, Bay Area Clean Water Agencies,

Central Valley Clean Water Association and Southern

California Alliance of Publicly Owned Treatment Works.

Wastewater agencies operate

laboratories that constantly

monitor wastewater as

it undergoes treatment

processes.



Because most storm

drains do not connect into

sewer pipes, stormwater

typically travels through

storm drains directly

into lakes, streams and

oceans without undergoing

treatment, although efforts

are underway to clean up

and monitor these nonpoint

sources of pollutants. Right,

Ballona Creek is monitored

for water quality by a

Los Angeles Waterkeeper

DrainWatch volunteer.

Nonpoint Source Pollution

In most areas of California, collection systems that

transport domestic and commercial wastewater to

treatment plants are independent of storm drain systems

designed for flood control that carry runoff from rainfall,

irrigation or other activities.

When it rains, stormwater picks up "nonpoint source"

pollutants on its way to gutters and drains, includ-

ing cigarettes, trash, automotive fluids, used oil, paint,

fertilizers and pesticides, lawn and garden clippings and

pet waste,from streets, parking lots,driveways,yards and

human encampments.Because most storm drains do not

connect into sewer pipes, stormwater pollution travels

in the storm drains directly to lakes, streams and oceans

without being cleaned or treated.

Because most storm drains do not connect into

sewer pipes, stormwater has historically often traveled

through storm drains directly into lakes, streams and

oceans without undergoing treatment, though more

recently stormwater is now often held in detention

basins, allowing pollutants to settle out before the

water is released or it percolates through to ground-

water. Many stormwater agencies now use stormwater

detention basins and other diversion technologies

as well.

The 1987 amendments to the CWA established the

Section 319 Nonpoint Source Management Program.

Updates to the program were released in 1997 and

2012.The program requires that water bodies impaired

by nonpoint sources be identified and for stakeholders

to implement best management practices to reduce

runoff along with monitoring and evaluating progress

on improvements. Unlike with source point regulations,

there are few numeric criteria requirements.

Wastewater agencies are involved in local, regional

and statewide partnerships and associations to protect

watersheds, prevent stormwater pollution and promote

water quality. Examples include the Sacramento Storm-

water Quality Partnership, which includes the county

of Sacramento and cities of Sacramento, Citrus Heights,

Elk Grove, Folsom, Galt and Rancho Cordova; the Fresno

Metropolitan Flood Control District's Clean Stormwater

Grant Program; and the Santa Clara Valley Urban Runoff

Pollution Prevention Program, an association of 15

government agencies in the Santa Clara Valley.

Under EPA's AdoptYour Watershed program (http://water.

epa.gov/action/adopt),

members of the public can get

involved in activities to protect and restore their local

watersheds.

Public Education

Despite the embarrassing "yuck" factor that inevitably

comes up, public education and outreach are critical to

keeping wastewater systems operating 24/7/365. For

example, local and regional campaigns are educating

Californians on how they can change their personal hab-

its to reduce impacts to both their own household sewer

system and also to their community's wastewater system.

Saying it straight out is the Orange County Sanitation

District in its "What to Flush" school education program.

"It's simple, the toilet is only meant to flush the three

P's - pee, poop and paper," the campaign says."Human

waste and toilet paper should be the only thing going

down the toilet. Unfortunately, over the years, people

have turned the toilet into a trash can."

When items like disposable diapers, dental floss, wipes,

facial tissues, paper towels, coffee grounds, sanitary

products, medications, cat box litter, deceased pet fish,

and cigarette butts are flushed down the toilet, they

clog household plumbing, waste water, harm public

sewer systems and the oceans, and add to the cost of

treating and disposing of wastewater - often resulting

in higher utility bills. A dangerous caveat to kitty litter

is Toxoplasmosis, a parasite found in cat waste that is

harmful to marine biology.

To educate customers, the wastewater community has

stepped up its public and school education programs.

For example, the "No Drugs Down the Drain" program,

sponsored by the cities of Los Angeles, Riverside and

San Diego, county of Los Angeles, Inland Empire Utilities

Agency,Orange County Sanitation District and Sanitation

Districts of Los Angeles County with the partnership of

the California Pharmacists Association, includes informa-

tion about the problems with flushing unused, unwanted

and expired medications down the toilet or drain and

offers alternative, safe and proper disposal choices. The

website at www.nodrugsdownthedrain.org/NoDrugs

also offers information by zip code to those living outside

of the sponsors'areas.Similar programs around the state

include the Sonoma County Water Agency Safe Medicine

Disposal program and Sacramento Regional County Sani-

tation District (SRCSD)"Don't Flush Your Meds" program.

The Tahoe City Public Utility District (TCPUD) implores

customers not to throw wipes down the toilet."They can

clog the connection to the sewer line causing backups

resulting in expensive repairs for the homeowners and/or

cause backups that spill sewage into our fragile mountain

environment," the district wrote in a "Wipes Clog Pipes"

flyer."Flushable is a catchy phrase and companies use it

to market their products.The challenge is that wipes can't

break down and more and more of our sewer lines and

pumps are being clogged with these wipes. Please help

us keep sewage in pipes and out of our environment by

not throwing any type of wipe down the toilet."

The proper disposal of fats, oils and grease (called FOG

by the wastewater community) is the focus of many

agency public information programs, especially right

before Thanksgiving and the holiday season. Frying and

cooking oils,salad dressings,soups, meat trimmings and

bacon fat, and greasy leftovers

should never be poured down

the drain because they can

solidify in household and local

agency sewer pipes, clog them

and lead to sewer backups,

overflows into the environment,

and increased customer sewer

rates to pay for sewer mainte-

nance and plumbing repairs.

At the Sacramento Area Sewer

District,F0G-related sewer work

costs approximately $3 million

each year.

TCPUD has free cooking oil/

grease disposal containers for

its customers. The Bay Area

Pollution Prevention Group

(BAPPG), a committee of the Bay Area Clean Water Agen-

cies, uses English,Spanish and Asian radio ad campaigns

during the holidays to focus on the proper disposal of

FOG. A related BAPPG program with the San Francisco

Bay Keeper involved outreach with stores that sell turkey

fryers to include proper FOG disposal information.

Public education efforts also include wastewater treat-

ment plant tours tailored for adults and as part of school

education programs.

Wastewater agencies have also worked with the public to

be good neighbors. In the 1970s SRCSD planned a large

undeveloped buffer area between its regional waste-

water treatment plant and surrounding neighborhoods

in south Sacramento County.The 2,650-acre Bufferlands

has led to conservation of increasingly scarce wetlands,

grasslands and riparian forest habitats. In another

example,as the city of Los Angeles embarks on a 10-Year

L.A. Sewers Construction Program, the Department of

Public Works will use microtunneling technology when-

ever possible to be less disruptive to neighborhoods.

Wastewater agencies host

treatment plant tours as part

of their educational and

public outreach programs.



Case Studies

The type of wastewater

treatment system a

community will have is

dependent on location,

population and where

the treated water will be

released.

California —the third largest state in land area — is approxi-

mately 156,000 square miles, with an average width of

150 to 200 miles.Mt.Whitney at 14,495 feet is the highest

point in the contiguous United States; Badwater in Death

Valley National Park at 282 feet below sea level is the

lowest elevation point in the United States; and the San

Francisco Bay is the largest natural harbor and estuary,

including the Delta, on the West Coast.

The state's geographical diversities combined with

varying populations and water resources create many

challenges that were recognized by California's legal and

regulatory forefathers when they created nine separate

Regional Water Boards to work within local and regional

parameters in creating wastewater regulatory programs.

Excerpts from Regional Water Board fact sheets illustrate

why different types of wastewater collection, treatment

and disposal systems must be designed, planned, built

and operated to meet the needs of California residents,

industries and visitors,which included 13.6 million inter-

national tourists in 2010.(http://www.visitcalifornia.com

)

•

The North Coast Region, from the Oregon border

to Marin County, has a 340-mile-long coastline, wet

coastal mountain areas and drier inland valleys,

and timber harvesting, agriculture, recreation and

tourism industries.

•

The San Francisco Bay Region, home to more than 7

million people, includes high-tech industries in the

Silicon Valley, oil refineries in Contra Costa County

and agriculture — such as vineyards and dairies.

•

The Central Coast Region, from Santa Clara County

south to northern Ventura County, has 378 miles

of coastline, agriculture, tourism, power and oil

production, and food processing industries.

•

The Los Angeles Region, with more than 10 million

residents, includes the coastal watersheds of Los

Angeles and Ventura counties, along with portions

of Kern and Santa Barbara counties.

•

The Central Valley Region is 60,000 square miles

with the Sierra Nevada on the east,coast ranges and

Klamath Mountains on the west, Oregon border on

the north and Tehachapi Mountains on the south.

The Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and their

tributaries drain the major part of this area through

the Delta into San Francisco Bay.The Bay-Delta is the

focal point of the State Water Project and federal

Central Valley Project.

The La hontan Region, named for a prehistoric

lake, runs from the Oregon border south along

the eastern crest of the Sierra Nevada through

the northern Mojave Desert. Within this area are

hundreds of lakes, including Lake Tahoe and Mono

Lake, streams and wetlands. Tourism ranks as the

most important industry.

The Colorado River Basin Region, which covers the

state's most arid area, has two water bodies of state

and national significance: the Colorado River and

Salton Sea.Colorado River water irrigates more than

700,000 acres of farmland and provides drinking

water to people in the southern coastal cities.

•

The Santa Ana Region, from the San Bernardino

and San Gabriel mountains in the north and east to

Newport Bay along the coast, is geographically the

smallest at 2,800 square miles but has one of the

largest populations with almost 5 million people.

The San Diego Region is 85 miles of coastline from

Laguna Beach to the Mexican Border. It extends 50

miles inland to the crest of the coastal mountain

range.

What type of wastewater treatment system a community

will have depends on location, population and where

the treated water will be released — whether it will be

discharged in the interior of the state, including lakes,

rivers or streams or the Delta, or along the coastlines

into the ocean. Other disposal methods, including land

application and percolation ponds, which further clean

effluent by filtering it through soil, are also used.

The following case studies describe examples of

discharge programs, an advanced water treatment

project and a wastewater overflow (sewage spill) scenario.

Bay/Ocean Discharge Program

The story behind the city of Los Angeles'Hyperion Treat-

ment Plant — the largest wastewater treatment facility in

Southern California — includes a chronicle of successes

and failures, grassroots efforts and, ultimately, recogni-

tion by the American Public Works Association (APWA)

as one of the 10 Most Outstanding Public Works Projects

of the 20th Century.

In the late 1800s, raw sewage from El Pueblo de Nuestra

Sefiora la Reina de los

Angeles

(the Town of Our Lady

Queen of the Angels) was conveyed through natural

waterways to the ocean.

Los Angeles in 1892 bought 200 acres in Playa del Rey

— south of what is now the Los Angeles International

Airport — for the location of what eventually would be the

Hyperion Treatment Plant. Raw sewage was discharged

into the ocean until 1925 when a simple screen plant

started operation.

The screened wastewater discharged into the ocean did

not prevent beach closures,which only increased with the

growing Los Angeles population. In 1900,the city's popu-

lation totaled more than 100,000; in 1940, it numbered

2.8 million people, according to U.S. Census statistics.

Following World War II,a new plant — the Hyperion Treat-

ment Plant — was planned, funded and built. When it

began operating in 1950, it was the first large secondary

treatment plant on the West Coast and included biosolids

processing. But a population growth spurt and lack of

funds to enlarge the plant impacted levels of treatment,

and water quality standards were rarely met. Discover-

ies by scientists included fish with fin rot and dolphins

with tumors. Surfers and swimmers had skin rashes and

became sick with flu-like symptoms.

According to a news release from APWA,"By 1957, the

new plant was discharging a blend of secondary and

primary effluent through a five-mile ocean outfall. Hy-

perion then stopped its biosolids-to-fertilizer program

and began discharging digested sludge into the Santa

Monica Bay through a separate seven-mile ocean outfall.

Discharging 25 million pounds of wastewater solids per

month began to take its toll on the marine life in Santa

Monica Bay."

Concerned about the pollution in Santa Monica Bay, a

group of Los Angeles area residents founded Heal the

Bay in 1985.Massive grassroots efforts led to major facility

upgrades in the late 1980s and a full secondary treatment

system was rebuilt and opened in 1998.The result: a 95

percent reduction in the amount of wastewater solids

going into Santa Monica Bay.

Hea I the Bay's 2012 End of Summer Beach Report

Card reported that beach water quality statewide was

improved and on the rise, citing continued improve-

ment at Los Angeles County and Santa Monica beaches,

among others.

Research into alternative sustainable biosolids solutions

led to the Terminal Island Renewable Energy (TIRE)

program. TIRE, which is being demonstrated under an

EPA Underground Injection Control permit, puts brine,

treated effluent, biosolids and re-slurried biosolids in

depleted deep subsurface oil and gas formations where

the earth's high temperature biodegrades the organic

compounds to generate methane gas to produce an

environmentally safe renewable energy,while the carbon

dioxide is sequestered, or isolated.

Operating since 1894,

the Hyperion Treatment

Plant is the city of Los

Angeles's oldest and largest

wastewater treatment

facility.

111111111111111111.11•1111111111'

Inland Surface Water Discharge

The Guardian laboratory

boat crew monitors water

quality and collects water

samples at upstream and

downstream sites of the

wastewater plant discharge

into the Sacramento River.

The Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District

(SRCSD) has embarked on wastewater treatment plant

upgrades to meet new and stricter water quality regula-

tions required by the Central Valley Regional Water Board

for treated water discharged into the Sacramento River

to significantly improve water quality in the Sacramento

River and Delta.

Somme. flegi;o1.0.1

Soni.lien °atria

Discharge to Land

The Fresno/Clovis Regional Water Reclamation Facility,

operated by the city of Fresno, provides wastewater

treatment services for the greater Fresno metropolitan

area in the central San Joaquin Valley.

The plant, located in Fresno, receives 68 million gallons of

wastewater on an average day with the capacity to treat

80 million gallons a day. After primary and secondary

treatment processes, the treated wastewater is directed

to 1,660 acres of ponds to percolate into the ground.

A portion is also supplied directly to nearby farmers to

irrigate fodder and fiber crops, such as alfalfa and cotton.

In 1891 the city began its first sewer system with the

construction of a 24-inch outfall sewer to a 40-acre"sewer

farm" located southwest of Fresno. As the population

grew, additional septic tanks were added to the sewer

farm to provide partial treatment of waste before being

spread on land and used for irrigation.

An 812-acre parcel of property was acquired by the

As background, in late 2010 new permit regulations were

issued. Among other requirements, the permit contains

mandates that require SRCSD to plan, design and con-

struct new treatment facility upgrades for ammonia and

nitrate removal, filtration and disinfection by 2021.

On a fast-track, in 2012 the Adva nced Treatment

Technology Pilot project was constructed to help

SRCSD decide what technology to use in its treat-

ment plant upgrade. The pilot facilities include new

air activated sludge facilities with biological nutrient

removal. Downstream of the activated sludge facilities,

different types of filtration technologies and disinfection

technologies are being tested.

SRCSD provides wastewater conveyance and treat-

ment services to residential, industrial and commercial

customers throughout unincorporated Sacramento

County, the cities of Citrus Heights, Elk Grove, Folsom,

Rancho Cordova, Sacramento and West Sacramento

and the communities of Courtland and Walnut Grove.

Under this regional system, wastewater travels through

177 miles of pipelines to a treatment plant south of

Sacramento in Elk Grove, where approximately 150

million gallons of wastewater are treated each day and

discharged into the Sacramento River.

city in 1909 and would become the site of the current

facilities. In the meantime, to cope with the demands of

the city and agriculture, more acreage was purchased and

more septic tanks were installed. Even the groundwater

elevation was lowered to increase percolation capacity.

A major new treatment plant was constructed in 1947 to

provide primary treatment to sewage before continued

land disposal and local irrigation use. Population growth

required a second plant in 1958.

In 1966 the city was designated as the sewering agency

for the local metropolitan area and assumed the role

of developing a long-range, area-wide wastewater

treatment and disposal plan. After the Clean Water Act

was passed, major construction projects improved

facilities to meet water quality requirements. Due to

more population growth, the latest plant expansions

were in the late 1990s. A cogeneration facility uses

the methane gas to partially meet the plant's energy

requirements.

Alternative Treatment

The city of Arcata's Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary on the

North Coast is also home to a unique wastewater treat-

ment facility that uses alternative technology to remove

wastewater contaminants. The 307-acre ecosystem on

the north end of Humboldt Bay integrates conventional

treatment processes with the natural processes of fresh-

water marshes. Salt marsh, tidal sloughs, grassy uplands,

mudflats and a brackish marsh provide habitat for wildlife.

Located along the Pacific Flyway, the sanctuary provides

wetland habitat for more than 300 species of birds and

numerous species of mammals, amphibians, insects and

plants.There are also approximately five miles of walking

and biking trails and the Arcata Marsh Interpretive Center.

But at one time, the marsh was the site of the county

landfill, and became known as"MountTrashmore."Klopp

Lake was originally a leachate basin for the landfill.

The first water treatment plant in 1949 offered only

primary treatment, releasing un-chlorinated effluent into

the Arcata Bay. In 1957,55 acres of oxidation ponds were

added for a secondary treatment process. Chlorination

was

added in 1966 and

an additional process was added

in 1975 to remove the remaining chlorine.

With the arrival of the Clean Water Act,the county landfill

located next to the primary and secondary wastewater

treatment plant was closed in 1973 and restored to a

grassy upland.To comply with the new federal law, plans

for a new regional treatment facility were proposed

in 1975, but the citizens of Arcata eyed the plan with

skepticism. Among the reasons were the large energy

requirements for pumping sewage to the plant and the

potential for breaks in the pipes crossing the bay posed

environmental concerns.

Instead the community, including city officials and a

group of professors from the local university, proposed

an alternative wastewater treatment facility.Pilot projects

were successful, and on July 4, 1981, the original Arcata

Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary covering 75 acres was

dedicated. In 1983 the State Water Resources Control

Board permits allowed Arcata to upgrade its wastewater

treatment plant, including wetland treatment enhance-

ment units.

As a result of the marsh system, the effluent finally

discharged into Humboldt Bay has gone through

enhanced secondary treatment.

The city of Arcata's Marsh

and Wildlife Sanctuary

on the North Coast is

also home to a unique

wastewater treatment

facility that uses alternative

technology to remove

wastewater contaminants.



Advanced Water Treatment

After wastewater is treated to a secondary level at the

of ultra-pure water produced since going on-line in

Orange County Sanitation District (OCSD), some of it

January 2008.

goes to the ocean and some of it flows to the Ground-

water Replenishment System (GWRS) in Fountain Valley

In February 2012, OCWD broke ground on the GWRS

where it undergoes a state-of-the-art purification pro-

Initial Expansion, which will result in the production of

cess consisting of microfiltration, reverse osmosis and

100 million gallons per day beginning in early 2015.

ultraviolet light with hydrogen peroxide. As a result, the

treated water is described as near-distilled quality.

It is the world's largest advanced water purification

facility of its kind, with a daily output of 70 million

gallons.Approximately 35 million gallons per day of the

treated water are pumped into injection wells to create a

seawater intrusion barrier.Another 35 million gallons are

pumped daily to Orange County Water District's (OCWD)

percolation basins in Anaheim where the water from the

system naturally filters through sand and gravel to the

aquifers of the groundwater basin.

The system has also been used to provide peak waste-

water disposal flow relief and indefinitely postponed

the need for OCSD to construct a new ocean outfall by

recycling wastewater flows that would otherwise be

discharged to the Pacific Ocean.

Called the largest advanced wastewater treatment

facility of its kind in the world, the system is a joint

OCWD/OCSD project. It reached a major milestone

on Dec. 10, 2012, when it marked 100 billion gallons

Wastewater Overflow Scenario

An"atmospheric river"hit the Sonoma Valley in late 2012.

and replacement projects, including the installation of

As a result of the extraordinary amount of heavy rainfall

five smart cover maintenance hole alarm systems.Smart

that inundated the area, two wastewater overflows

covers on maintenance holes send alarms to sanitation

occurred within the Sonoma Valley County Sanitation

staff when a wastewater collection pipe nears its capac-

District.

ity. Staff can then respond to the appropriate location

and pump wastewater into a collection truck to prevent

As required by the State Water Board, the district has

an overflow.

developed a Sewer System Management Plan, which

describes how the sewer collection system is oper-

During a 1995 Sonoma County government restruc-

ated, maintained and evaluated. Its contents range from

turing, the Sonoma County Water Agency assumed

goals and an operations and maintenance program to

responsibility for managing the county sanitation

emergency response and communications plans. For

zones and districts that provide wastewater treatment,

example, if a spill occurs, wastewater maintenance and

reclamation and disposal services. County sanitation

work crews, including biologists, collect wastewater

districts are separate legal entities; sanitation zones are

samples, evaluate environmental impacts and monitor

owned by the water agency. Each sanitation zone and

the collection systems.

district operates under a unique, individual permit from

the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Board or North

To help reduce overflows during large storms, the

Coast Regional Water Board that set the requirements

sanitation district has ongoing pipeline improvement

for their operations.

The Orange County

Sanitation District has the

world's largest advanced

water purification facility

of its kind with a daily

output of 70 million

gallons. Currently the

plant is undergoing

expansion.

The Future

California's publicly owned wastewater systems are pub-

lic assets confronting a challenging future. Could future

wastewater and sanitation issues be even more complex

than those of the past?

In its 2020 Vision for Clean Water,the National Association

of Clean Water Agencies,Water Environment Federation

and Association of Clean Water Administrators wrote,"We

have inherited the water quality and infrastructure of the

20th century from our parents and grandparents — our

children and grandchildren deserve the same from us in

the 21st century."

Their goals,embraced by California wastewater agencies,

include the following:

•

Developing holistic watershed approaches that can

effectively address the diffuse and complex sources

of water pollution that hinder additional progress.

•

Ensuring that maximum flexibility,creativity,author-

ity, and innovation under the Clean Water Act are

supported and barriers that may stand in the way

of these objectives are addressed.

•

Spreading awareness of the value of the nation's

water, including the vital role of water and waste-

water infrastructure in job creation, economic

expansion and public health protection.

•

Maximizing the effect of limited human and capital

resources by focusing on the initiatives and projects

that achieve the greatest water quality gains relative

to the collective effort invested.

•

Ensuring that municipalities and states have the

funds and financial tools needed to implement

programs that will ensure 40 more years of clean

water improvements.

California's wastewater community is very focused on the

replacement and improvement of aging infrastructure

and the issue of how to pay for these future investments

that are as crucial in this century as in the last century.

It is important to realize that wastewater rates paid by

most Californians today reflect past infusions of federal

and state money. In other words, many people are not

paying the full cost of wastewater infrastructure through

their rates and fees.

Wastewater entities also face potential obstacles that

were not considered or planned for in the previous

century. For example, the state's wastewater infrastruc-

ture is not immune from the impacts of future extreme

wet weather events that could cause power outages at

treatment plants. Planning for these natural disasters

and climate change variables is front and center for

wastewater agency managers in their efforts to prevent

degraded water quality and protect the environment.

Look for wastewater agency managers to implement

integrated planning processes and take advantage of

more sustainable and comprehensive solutions to reach

water quality objectives.

There will be increased interaction with the general

public and policy leaders as people become increasingly

aware of how their own activi-

ties and the associated impact

of contaminants from those

activities impact wastewater

treatment, clean water and the

environment.

As science and technology

make possible advanced wa-

ter quality testing from de-

tecting compounds at parts-

per-million (1 part compound

to 1 million parts water) to

parts-per-billion levels to parts-

per-trillion levels, the detect-

able occurrence of CECs needs

thoughtful public discussions.

For example, when a new pol-

lutant compound is detected,

is there a health concern, or at

what level does it become a

health or environmental con-

cern? If yes, who pays for costs

to remove it from the waste-

water?

Also on the radar are discus-

sions on how treatment plants

fit under the California Air Re-

sources Board's"cap and trade"

program as part of implemen-

tation of California's Assembly

Bill 32 — The Global Warming

Solutions Act of 2006. Oppor-

tunities could exist in the future

for wastewater agencies to generate revenue through

producing carbon offsets and to contribute to meeting air

pollution reduction goals in a number of different ways.

What might the next generation of sanitation look like?

It could be the solar-powered portable toilet by environ-

mental scientist and engineer Michael Hoffmann of the

California Institute ofTechnology (Caltech). His toilet uses

the sun to power an electrochemical reactor.The reactor

breaks down water and human waste into fertilizer and

hydrogen, which can be stored in hydrogen fuel cells as

energy.The treated water could then be reused to flush

the toilet or for irrigation.

Today's California public

agency wastewater

professionals are state-

certified and at work

around the clock 2417 365

days of the year.

A future model for the wastewater agency is detailed in

a report titled

The Water Resources Utility of the Future:A

Blueprint for Action."It

contemplates a new business ap-

proach where instead of simply collecting, treating and

disposing of municipal and industrial wastewater, the

utility of the future recognizes that its inputs are valuable

resources,"according to an excerpt."As such, its objectives

are to separate, extract, reuse or convert valuable water,

energy and commodities from wastewater while using

utility assets in innovative ways to reduce costs, increase

revenues and strengthen the local economy."The report

was released in early 2013 by the National Association

of Clean Water Agencies, Water Environment Research

Foundation and Water Environment Federation.

Certified Wastewater Professionals

California's track record of safe and effective operations of wastewater treatment plants can be attributed to

State Water Board certification standards for people working in the wastewater field.There are five levels of

state-mandated wastewater treatment plant operator certification (Grades l-V) and requirements include a

combination of education, training and experience.

Beyond the state-mandated certifications required for wastewater treatment plant operators, the California

Water Environment Association offers voluntary education, training and certification in other vocations in

the water quality field.

Voluntarily surpassing mandatory regulations, California public agencies are attaining certification for hav-

ing environmental management system-based Biosolids Management Programs. This ongoing multi-level

certification program is offered through the Water Environment Federation, in collaboration with the National

Association of Clean Water Agencies and local and regional biosolids management organizations across the

U.S. and Canada with support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Looking to the future,the wastewater community is preparing for succession planning as retirements loom for

veteran wastewater professionals.Wastewater agencies are involved in providing educational opportunities

for people interested in pursuing a career in the wastewater field. For example, Laney College and EBMUD

teamed up to offer a pre-apprenticeship level course of study to prepare students for plumbing careers in

the water distribution industry.

References

Thank you for the historical background researched and collected by Jon Schladweiler, a historian with the

Arizona Water Company. www.sewerhistory.org

National Water Research Institute "Source, Fate, and Transport of Endocrine Disruptors, Pharmaceuticals, and

Personal Care Products in Drinking Water Sources in California' Project Report: www.nwri-usa.org/pdfs/

NWRIFinalReportEDCsPPCPsMay2010.pdf

Bureau of Reclamation's "Secondary/Emerging Constituents Report" (2009): www.usbrgov/lc/socal/reports/

brineconcentrate/4SecondaryConstituents.pdf

onfronting Climate Change:An Early Analysis of Water and Wastewater Adaptation Costs": www.amwa.net/

galleries/climatechange/ConfrontingClimateChangeOct09.pdf

"A Citizen's Guide to the California Water Boards":www.waterboards.ca.gov/publications forms/publications/

general/docs/citizenguide2011.pdf State Water Board Office of Public Participation:916.341.5254 or info@

waterboards.ca.gov

IPThe Water Resources Utility of the Future:A

Blueprint for Action": www.nacwa.org/images/stories/public/2013-

waterresourcesutilityofthefuture-final.oclf

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