San José–Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility

The site sits on more than on the southern end of the San Francisco Bay, adjacent to the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. It consists of a processing area, a sludge-drying area, a former salt evaporation pond, and open buffer space. The plant's outfall channel is Artesian Slough, which flows into the San Francisco Bay via Coyote Creek. == History ==

In the 1880s, San Jose built a simple sewage disposal system that discharged untreated wastewater directly into the San Francisco Bay. It was the largest sewage disposal system in the South Bay, with enough capacity for 250,000 people despite a population under 15,000, in order to discharge organic waste from the city's many fruit canneries. By the 1930s, the canneries along with indoor plumbing increasingly contributed to pollution in the bay. However, voters rejected bonds to fund upgrades to the sewage system. By 1948, the state declared San Jose to be in violation of state water pollution regulations, risking a moratorium on building permits. In 1996, the plant opened a laboratory to monitor performance. In 1998, the South Bay Water Recycling facility began providing water reclamation service. == Operations ==

, the facility treats of wastewater per day, with a capacity of up to . Most effluent is discharged into Artesian Slough. However, an average of treated wastewater is diverted to the adjacent South Bay Water Recycling (SBWR) plant and distributed as reclaimed water to about 750 customers in San Jose, Santa Clara, and Milpitas. Discharges are monitored by the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, and emissions are regulated by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. == Service area ==

, the facility serves 1.5 million residents and over 17,000 business facilities in the following Santa Clara County jurisdictions, which maintain separate collection infrastructure: • San Jose • Santa Clara • Milpitas • Cupertino Sanitary District (Cupertino) • West Valley Sanitation District (Campbell, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, and Saratoga) • Santa Clara County Sanitation District No. 2-3 (unincorporated) • Burbank Sanitary District (unincorporated Burbank) == See also ==