The A.K. Warren Water Resource Facility (formerly known as the Joint Water Pollution Control Plant) is not an isolated wastewater treatment plant; it is a key component of a network of seven treatment plants and over 1,200 miles of trunk sewers known as the Joint Outfall System (JOS), which provides regional wastewater treatment for Los Angeles County, covering an extensive area that includes 73 cities and unincorporated county territory. The six water reclamation plants in the JOS provide a high level of treatment, producing a recycled water that is used at hundreds of sites throughout the county.

The Warren Facility is the hub of the JOS. It is the largest facility on the system. It provides centralized processing of solids removed during wastewater treatment for all of the JOS plants, producing electricity and reusable biosolids in the process. The treated water from the Warren Facility is sent to the Pacific Ocean through a network of tunnels and outfall pipes that eventually extend approximately two miles off the Palos Verdes Peninsula to a depth of approximately 200 feet.

Operation

The Warren Facility provides both primary and secondary treatment for approximately 260 million gallons of wastewater per day (mgd), and has a total permitted capacity of 400 mgd. For a detailed description of the wastewater inlet and plant discharge characteristics, see Plant Performance.

Solids collected in Primary Treatment and Secondary Treatment are processed in anaerobic digestion tanks where bacteria break down organic material and produce methane gas. After digestion, the solids are dewatered at Solids Processing and hauled off-site to composting, land application, and landfill disposal. Methane gas generated in the anaerobic digestion process is used to produce power and digester heating steam in a Total Energy Facility that utilizes gas turbines and waste-heat recovery steam generators. The on-site generation of electricity permits the Warren Facility to produce most of its electricity.

Odor Control technology and methods are utilized at the Warren Facility to eliminate the migration of fugitive odors from the plant to the surrounding communities.