Sacramento’s Wastewater Treatment Plant has implemented more adept ways to accommodate for the ever-growing population, which concurrently requires growth to the infrastructures. Nearly a dozen sewage treatment plants currently dump wastewater into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Necessary changes are taking place to adhere to better quality management for water issues that affect community’s across the city. Included in this overhaul will be a modernization to the city’s wastewater plant. At the current plant, wastewater from 1.4 million households in the Sacramento region rotate around in 24 large tanks. The plant, with its tanks, concrete towers, underground passageways, and miles of pipes was built in the early 1980’s. Every day, it treats enough sewage to fill 227 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The plant is the largest sewage discharger into a freshwater body west of the Mississippi. To date, this project will be the biggest project in Sacramento County history. Homeowners’ monthly sewer bills have been steadily increasing to pay for the project. Rates will continue to increase from $32 now to the mid-$40 range by completion in 2023. However, the payoff will be the revenue raised by producing water clean enough to recycle and sell. The recycled water will be used for agricultural re-use and applied to parks, schools and street medians. The effort to clean the water and reduce contaminants will be a multi-layered benefit for the city.
A side note… there are about two billion acre-feet of fresh water underground in the Central Valley. The rivers of the Central Valley merge with the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. A recent study concluded that an acre-foot is enough for the average California household for a year
Coming soon: Perma-liner Industries is busy making plans for you. We’re planning a “Trenchless Tour” on July 27th in the New England area. We’ll be posting more information on this spectacular event…stay tuned and save the date!
