Central Contra Costa Sanitary District

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Central Contra Costa Sanitary District (CCCSD), also called Central San, provides sanitary sewage transport and treatment for the central portion of Contra Costa County, California. The main facility is a 54 million-gallon per day treatment plant in residential Martinez, California and as of mid-2006 it provides service to approx 450,000 residents.^[1] It operates and maintains 1,600 miles (2,600 km) of sewer lines out of its second location in Walnut Creek, California. It is a California Energy Commission Showcase Plant.

Contents 1 A Brief History 2 Plant Processes 3 Statistics 4 References 5 See also 6 External links

[edit] A Brief History

In the 1940s, central Contra Costa County was a rural area of farms, orchards and a few small towns. With the end of World War II, a building boom began. As the nearby cities of San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley grew, so did the population of Contra Costa County.

District Board Members attended a groundbreaking ceremony on November 10, 1947, to mark Central San's first construction--the main trunk sewer at the east end of Moraga Boulevard.This ultimately resulted in a sanitation crisis with most of the county depending on septic systems, often inefficient due to the area’s heavy adobe clay soil. At the time, State health authorities considered the polluted conditions arising from those septic tanks to be among the worst in California.

With septic tanks overflowing and waterborne diseases such as typhoid becoming a potential threat, civic leaders rallied public support for a solution. In an election held on June 24, 1946, a proposal to form a sanitary district for areas of central Contra Costa County was approved. On July 15, 1946, the County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution officially creating the Central Contra Costa Sanitary District (CCCSD).

Work began immediately and within 26 months, CCCSD’s newly constructed main sewer trunk line and treatment plant were operational. At that time, CCCSD’s service area population was 15,000; the treatment plant’s capacity was 4.5 million gallons per day; and the CCCSD’s collection system consisted of 50 miles (80 km) of sewer pipe

That original system was expected to handle the area’s wastewater for at least two decades. But by 1952, it was obvious that demand would soon exceed capacity. CCCSD began a series of expansions and improvements to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population.

Enormous changes have occurred since the District’s beginnings in 1946 as a small agency serving a rural area: the size, population, and characteristics of the service area; the processes and technologies used to treat and collect wastewater; the environmental awareness and stricter water quality standards and regulations.

[edit] Plant Processes

CCCSD is one of the largest sewage plants to use ultraviolet disinfection. Its facilities include a cogeneration system, two multiple hearth furnaces for dried sludge incineration, and a recycled water plant.

Headworks [1]

Primary Sedimentation [2]

Secondary Treatment [3]

UV Disinfection [4]

Solids Handling [5]

[edit] Statistics

Central Contra Costa Sanitary District

- Established in 1946 as a special enterprise district

- Serves approximately 450,000 residents and 3,000 businesses in 11 cities covering a 146-square-mile (380 km²) area

- Employs 260 workers

Treatment Plant

- Treats an average of 45 million gallons of wastewater per day

- Incinerates 200 tons of sludge removed each day, reducing that volume to only 10-12 tons of sterile ash

- Cogeneration facility uses a combination of methane from a landfill and natural gas to produce electricity and steam for plant. Approximately 3,200 kilowatts of power - more than 90% of the Plant’s daily power needs - is produced

- Produces nearly 600 million gallons of recycled water each year for plant operations, industrial uses, and landscape irrigation

Lab

- Environmental Laboratory performs approximately 40,000 chemical and biological tests each year. Some tests measure on a parts per quadrillion level.

Collection System

- Maintains, cleans, and repairs 1,500 miles (2,400 km) of sewer lines and 18 pumping stations

Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility

- District operates a Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility (HHWCF), established in 1997, collecting approximately two-million pounds of household hazardous waste per year

Budget

- The 2008-2009 Fiscal Year budget is $102 million

[edit] References

1. ^ Schmidt, R; M Regan, R Grieb, J Witherspoon, B Greene (June 2001). "Just being neighborly". Water Environment & Technology (Water Environment Federation) 13 (6): 52–56. 

[edit] See also

Contra Costa County Employees' Retirement Association County Retirement Plan (member)

[edit] External links

• Official website