CITY OF LOS ANGELES
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS

About the Treatment Plants

The Bureau of Sanitation operates four treatment and water reclamation plants that serve over four million people within two service areas containing over 600 square miles. The main purpose of these treatment facilities is to remove potential pollutants from Los Angeles' sewage in order to protect our river and marine environments and the public’s health. The organic and inorganic particles that are removed make up less than 0.1% of the incoming sewage, yet the plants remove over one million pounds of debris, grit, and organic solids every day.

The plants reclaim significant amounts of beneficial materials from the wastewater. Together, they produce over 80 million gallons of reclaimed water per day. The water can be used in place of drinking water for industrial, landscape, and recreational uses.

The plants use advanced technologies to produce biosolids that are used as fertilizers and soil amendments for agricultural and landscape applications. Another byproduct of the treatment plant operation is energy. Biogas from two of the plants is converted into electricity.

TREATMENT PLANTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT