Who are the Sanitation Districts? 
Joint Administration Office of
The Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County
The Sanitation Districts provide environmentally sound, cost-effective wastewater and solid waste management and, in the process, convert waste into resources such as reclaimed water, energy, and recycled materials. The Sanitation Districts are a partnership of 24 independent special districts serving about 5.3 million people in Los Angeles County. The Sanitation Districts’ service area covers approximately 800 square miles and encompasses 78 cities and unincorporated territory within the County. The Sanitation Districts construct, operate, and maintain facilities to collect, treat, recycle, and dispose of wastewater and industrial wastes. Individual districts operate and maintain their own portions of the collection system. Local jurisdictions are responsible for the collection of wastewater through local sewers and the collection of solid waste. The Sanitation Districts also provide for the management of solid wastes including disposal, transfer operations, materials recovery, and energy recovery. The 24 districts work cooperatively under a Joint Administration Agreement with one administrative staff headquartered near the City of Whittier. Each Sanitation District has a separate Board of Directors consisting of the mayor of each city within that District and the Chair of the Board of Supervisors for county unincorporated territory. Each Sanitation District pays its proportionate share of joint administrative costs. The Sanitation Districts’ 1,400 miles of main trunk sewers and 11 wastewater treatment plants convey and treat approximately 500 million gallons per day (mgd), 200 mgd of which are available for reuse in the dry Southern California climate. Three active sanitary landfills handle approximately 19,500 tons per day (tpd), of which 16,000 tpd are disposed (approximately forty percent of the County-wide disposal capacity) and 3,500 tpd are recycled. The agency also operates four landfill energy recovery facilities, two recycle centers, and three transfer/materials recovery facilities, and participates in the operation of two refuse-to-energy facilities. The Sanitation Districts’ overall wastewater and solid waste management budgets for 2007-2008 are $707 million and $410 million, respectively. Both systems provide service to the customers at some of the lowest rates in the entire country. Wastewater Management System 
Joint Outfall System Seventeen of the Sanitation Districts that provide sewerage services in the metropolitan Los Angeles area are also signatory to a Joint Outfall Agreement that provides for operation and maintenance of a regional, interconnected system of facilities known as the Joint Outfall System (JOS). The service area of the JOS encompasses 73 cities and unincorporated territory, and includes some areas within the City of Los Angeles and Orange and San Bernardino Counties. This system provides wastewater collection, treatment, reuse, and disposal for residential, commercial, and industrial users and includes the following treatment plants: Sanitation District No. 2 acts as the agent for the other signatory Sanitation Districts in administering the Joint Outfall Agreement. Santa Clarita and Antelope Valleys The Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District operates the Saugus and Valencia WRPs. Sanitation Districts Nos. 14 and 20 serve the Antelope Valley. Sanitation District No. 14 operates the Lancaster WRP, and Sanitation District No. 20 operates the Palmdale WRP.
Contract Flows and Inactive DistrictsSanitation District No. 34, located in La Canada Flintridge and Sanitation District No. 35, located within the unincorporated area of Acton, have not yet constructed sewerage systems. These Sanitation Districts are currently inactive and sewerage service in these areas is provided by individual private disposal systems.
Reclaimed Water ReuseThe Sanitation Districts are pioneers in using reclaimed water beneficially and remain strong proponents of expanding reuse. Upstream WRPs provide a high quality source of reclaimed water that essentially meets drinking water standards and is reused at more than 520 sites throughout the county. Flows received at the JWPCP higher in salts making it less practical to reclaim and reuse. Uses of recycled water include industrial, commercial, and recreational applications; groundwater recharge; agriculture; and landscape, park, and golf course irrigation. Biosolids Management The Sanitation Districts’ sewerage system produces a combined 600,000 wet tons per year of biosolids as a byproduct of wastewater treatment. At some of the plants, biosolids are digested producing methane that is converted to electricity or used for process heating. Excess electricity is supplied to the power grid, which helps meet the growing needs of Southern California. Biosolids are beneficially reused through a variety of management options: as a soil amendment for agriculture; in the manufacture of high-quality compost; and by injecting into a cement kiln to help reduce NOx emissions. The Sanitation Districts’ long-range plan also includes ownership of two state of the art composting sites. The Inland Empire Regional Composting Facility located in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, is an entirely enclosed composting facility, developed in a joint venture with the Inland Empire Utilities Agency. The Westlake Farms Co-Composting Facility, located in the Central Valley, will compost Districts’ biosolids with the Central Valley’s agricultural waste and green waste, and is scheduled to open in 2010. Solid Waste Management System 
The Sanitation Districts operate a comprehensive solid waste management system serving the needs of a large portion of Los Angeles County. This system includes sanitary landfills, recycle centers, materials recovery/transfer facilities, and energy recovery facilities.
Disposal Facilities The Sanitation Districts own and operate: The Sanitation Districts operate: The Sanitation Districts maintain environmental control systems at the following closed landfills: Energy Recovery FacilitiesThe Sanitation Districts were among the first to utilize landfill gas as a natural resource to produce renewable energy. The Sanitation Districts operate landfill energy recovery facilities at the Puente Hills, Spadra, Calabasas, and Palos Verdes landfills that provide reliable and economic electrical power and help to serve to California’s increasing energy needs. The Sanitation Districts’ use of waste (refuse) as a fuel to produce power reduces our reliance on fossil fuels while helping to prolong the remaining landfill capacity in the region. The Commerce Refuse-to-Energy Facility is the first of its kind in Southern California and is owned by a separate authority created by a joint powers agreement between the Sanitation Districts and the City of Commerce and is operated by the Sanitation Districts. Similarly, the Southeast Resource Recovery Facility (SERRF) in Long Beach is owned by a separate authority created by a joint powers agreement between the Sanitation Districts and the City of Long Beach, but is operated by a private company under contract. Recycling and Transfer/Materials Recovery Facilities The Sanitation Districts own and operate facilities that help Los Angeles County meet its goals in diverting waste from landfills and in providing cost effective transfer of municipal solid waste to landfills using transfer trucks or rail. The recycle centers located at the Puente Hills and Palos Verdes Landfills are Certified California Buy Back Centers. The Puente Hills Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) and the Downey Area Recycling and Transfer (DART) Facility recover recyclable materials, such as paper and plastics, through a combination of manual and mechanical methods. The South Gate Transfer Station is located in the City of South Gate. Waste-by-Rail The Sanitation Districts have taken the lead role in implementing a Waste-by-Rail system, the rail transport of waste to remote disposal facilities. The Waste-by-Rail System will provide long term disposal capacity to replace local landfills as they reach capacity and close.
The Puente Hills MRF will form the initial infrastructure for the Waste-by-Rail system. To develop the Waste-by-Rail system, the Sanitation Districts have purchased and begun the development of the Mesquite Regional Landfill in Imperial County (see map, bottom), which is permitted to handle up to 20,000 tons per day for approximately 100 years. The Sanitation Districts expect the landfill to be in operation by 2009. The Sanitation Districts have also entered into a purchase agreement for the fully permitted Eagle Mountain Landfill in Riverside County, but the acquisition is contingent upon successful resolution of pending federal litigation.
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