Purpose and Functions (37 Employees)
Organization chart [PDF]
Wastewater Treatment Facility
Operates and maintains a regional wastewater treatment and disposal facility. Wastewater treatment and ocean outfall disposal are provided for the City of Santa Cruz and the Santa Cruz County Sanitation District (includes Live Oak, Capitola, Soquel and Aptos). Ocean outfall disposal is provided for the City of Scotts Valley.
Wastewater Source Control
Provides inspection, sampling and monitoring of business and industrial establishments to limit discharge of harmful constituents into the sanitary sewer system and storm drain system. Issues wastewater discharge permits to industrial discharges. Issues citations and levies fines for code violations. This program is a requirement of the State of California and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The City of Santa Cruz has been treating sewage at the wastewater treatment facility near Neary Lagoon and disposing of the effluent in the ocean since 1928. Treatment capacity has been expanded several times to accommodate the growth of the city and the addition of flows from the Santa Cruz County Sanitation District. (Photograph of the modern facility below.) The current rated design capacity is 17 MGD (millions of gallons per day) and with an average daily flow of 10 MGD. Design for wet weather flow is 81 MGD.
View The Wastewater Treatment Facility in 360º Interactive Panorama
Note: These Panoramas are large files (about 370kb each) and will be slow to load on a 56k modem.
Major Accomplishments Over the Last 5 Years:
Major Goals:
- Integrate Energy conservation measures into plant operations.
- Implement paperless work order system for equipment repair.
- Ensure the proper and efficient operation of the entire wastewater treatment facility at a level commensurate with a model operation
- Control odor emissions from the plant as a good neighbor
Major Upcoming Issues:
- Implementation of Storm Water Ordinance Best Management Practices and integration of inspections and enforcement for storm water discharges into current wastewater discharge inspection program
- Review and implement facility optimization goals through the leadership team structure
- Start up and optimization of Phase II of Odor Master Plan
- Optimization of effluent purification process
- Evaluate biosolids processing and disposal
In April 1998, the City completed a secondary biological treatment system consisting of trickling filters/solids contact
tanks to improve effluent quality and satisfy federal requirements and the California Ocean Plan.
For more information contact:
Dan Seidel
Superintendent of Wastewater Collection and Treatment Facility
831-420-6050
831-420-6489 (fax)
email