This project is the result of a long water rights process that has recently been completed with the approval by the State Water Resources Control Board of the City's appropriative water permit. Once operational, the project will enable downstream water districts to divert reclaimed water discharged from the Hill Canyon Wastewater Treatment Plant for agricultural reuse on farmlands in the Santa Rosa Valley and the Oxnard Plain. This project will have substantial regional benefits in that it will allow downstream water purveyors to reduce groundwater pumping. This will help reduce sea water intrusion and groundwater overdraft problems in the Oxnard Plain. By 2002, the Olsen Road Water Reclamation Plant will be abandoned and its flow of .25 million gallons per day pumped to the Hill canyon Wastewater Treatment Plant which has a current flow of 10 million gallons per day.
Wastewater is treated to a tertiary level.
By the time it is discharged to the creek following a process of screening, grit removal, clarification, aeration with nutrient removal, secondary clarification, multi-media filtering, disinfection, and dechlorination, its crystal clear appearance is very similar to that of high quality potable water. While Phase 2 construction efforts currently underway will increase facility capacity to meet the future growth of the City, Phase 3 facility upgrades will allow for the more efficient biological removal of nitrogen and phosphorus. Biosolids are the final product of all anaerobic digestion and dewatering of all treated solids. Biosolids are now recycled through land application at the Buttonwillow Land and Cattle Company in Bakersfield. Recycling of this soil amendment on marginal agricultural lands has beneficially increased crop yields of cotton, alfalfa, and other non-edible crops.