History
Ownership
The Scotts Valley Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) is owned and operated by the City of Scotts Valley to provide residents with efficient, reliable wastewater treatment services and high-quality recycled water for landscape irrigation and other potential beneficial uses.
Construction
The plant was originally constructed in 1964 as a 30,000 gallon per day package wastewater treatment plant to provide secondary level wastewater treatment. In 1972, an activated sludge treatment system was added and plant capacity was expanded to 120,000 gallons/day. Over the years plant capacity has been expanded several times to serve growth in the community and now has the capacity to treat 1.5 million gallons each day, enough to see the City through planned build-out.
Upgrades
Recent plant upgrades include a Tertiary Treatment Facility that treats up to 1 MGD of recycled water. In 2001, the City received a permit from the Regional Water Quality Control Board to produce recycled water for unrestricted irrigation use. The recycled water is used mainly for irrigation at:
- Businesses
- Landscape Medians
- Local Parks
- Residences
- Schools
State-of-the-art ultraviolet disinfection kills any pathogens (disease causing bacteria) without the use of chemicals such as chlorine. Following disinfection, the tertiary treated water meets State Title 22 standards for water reuse in California and is safe for all permitted uses.