The Clearwater Project will protect local waterways by addressing aging infrastructure. The project involves constructing a new 7-mile, 18-foot diameter tunnel to convey cleaned water from the A.K. Warren Water Resource Facility in Carson to existing ocean outfalls located on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The Clearwater Project is the result of a multi-year planning effort that began in 2006 to identify improvements needed to ensure the reliability and future capacity needs of the main sewer system serving over 5 million people in Los Angeles County. The new tunnel will replace the existing two tunnels that are over 60 and 80 years old. The construction of the Clearwater project was approved by the Board of Directors in January 2019. Construction is underway and expected to be completed in 2027.

Pure Water Southern California

The Sanitation Districts have partnered with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) to produce up to 150 million gallons of water daily (MGD). Pure Water Southern California will accomplish this by employing a state-of-the-art purification process to produce high-quality water. The project will provide a sustainable, local supply of water that will increase Southern California’s water resiliency. The Sanitation Districts will construct preliminary and supplementary treatment processes needed to support the advanced water treatment system to be developed by MWD.

The initial agreement with MWD was approved by our Board of Directors in November 2015. A 0.5 MGD Demonstration Plant began operation in October 2019. The Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) will be available for public review in Summer 2023. The MWD Board of Directors will consider certification of the Final EIR in early 2024. Pure Water Southern California will be delivered in phases, with the initial phase proposed to start construction in 2025 and operation in 2028.

The U.S. Department of Energy approves qualified project developers or Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) to complete ESPC projects. ESCOs develop, design, build, and arrange financing for projects that save or reduce energy and decrease operations and maintenance costs. ESCO guarantees the savings realized from the project will cover the ESPC, thereby assuming the technical and performance risks associated with the project.

To date, the Sanitation Districts have entered into two ESPC’s: The Warren Facility Replacement of Cryogenic Oxygen Plant Nos. One and Two was approved by the Board of Directors in September 2020 and construction is anticipated to be completed by the end of 2024. The Valencia WRP North Aeration Process Improvements project was approved by the Board of Directors in June 2020 and construction is anticipated to be completed by the end of 2023.

Chloride Compliance (Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District)

Chloride Compliance (Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District)

To comply with a Federal and State mandate for the amount of chloride (salt) in our recycled water discharged from the Valencia and Saugus Water Reclamation Plants to the Santa Clara River, the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District approved the construction of compliance facilities. This project consists of microfiltration, reverse osmosis, UV disinfection, and brine disposal via brine concentration and trucking. The projects were approved by the Board of Directors in August 2018 and January 2019. Construction of the UV disinfection facilities began in October 2018 and are now operational. Construction of the remaining components began in April 2019 and are expected to be complete by the end of 2023.

Sewer Rehabilitation Projects

In December 2021, an aging sewer collapsed resulting in a sewage spill of approximately 8.6 million gallons. As part of the Sanitation Districts response to the spill, a third-party engineering consultant was retained to audit the spill and conduct a programmatic review of our current sewer inspection and maintenance programs and capital improvement projects. Based on the recommendations in the audit report, the Sanitation Districts decided to accelerate the schedule to rehabilitate deteriorated sewers. These projects are requested and approved by the Board of Directors on an as-required basis.

Temperature Compliance Studies

The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board recently lowered temperature requirements for treated wastewater effluent discharges to the San Gabriel and Santa Clara Rivers. The newly imposed temperature requirements reduce the maximum temperature limitation for treated wastewater effluent and receiving water bodies from 86 degrees Fahrenheit (°F) to 80 °F, with no consideration of background conditions such as elevated ambient air temperatures. The Regional Board has included compliance schedules in many of the recently adopted NPDES discharge permits to allow time for the work required to bring each treatment plant into compliance. The Sanitation Districts are conducting studies on the surface water environment to better understand the relationship between water temperature and health of the biological communities that live in the rivers. The results of these studies will be used to implement controls or regulatory pathways to achieve compliance with the temperature standards. The Sanitation Districts’ wastewater treatment plants that are currently under a compliance schedule for temperature include the Long Beach, Los Coyotes, San Jose Creek, Pomona, and Whittier Narrows Water Reclamation Plants (WRPs), which discharge to the San Gabriel River and the Saugus and Valencia WRPs, which discharge to the Santa Clara River. The Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) is providing technical assistance with both of the efforts under way for the San Gabriel River and Santa Clara River.

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