How Our System Works Collection Wastewater enters the Laguna Treatment Plant through a pipe system from urban homes, businesses and industry. Solids removed from rural septic systems are combined with the wastewater at the head of the treatment plant. The pipe system depends largely on gravity. A gentle slope in increasingly larger pipes moves wastewater to the plant.
Tanker trucks bring septic wastes to the plant for treatment.
Each day these two sources contribute 18 million gallons of wastewater to the plant, which also accommodates additional water during storms. The screened wastewater next enters grit tanks where sand and gravel are settled out and removed for hauling to landfill. Sedimentation tanks allow lighter materials, such as grease, to float to the top and be skimmed off. Heavier material, called primary sludge, falls to the bottom. Both are pumped to anerobic digesters.