Purpose and Needs
Find out why the Sunnyvale community needs the Cleanwater Program
Purpose
For over 60 years, Sunnyvale’s Water Pollution Control Plant (Plant) has worked tirelessly 24 hours a day and 7 days a week to provide reliable wastewater treatment for the City of Sunnyvale’s residents and businesses. However, the Plant is aging and in order to continue providing reliable service for future generations, major upgrades and replacement of key facilities are necessary. The need for additional operational reliability, accommodating more concentrated flows, and higher quality discharge are also drivers for a series of projects over the next 20-plus years. These projects are compiled into the Sunnyvale Cleanwater Program, which is the City’s long-term capital improvement program to renovate the Plant through a series of projects and upgrades.
Sunnyvale’s Water Pollution Control Plant is an advanced wastewater treatment facility that treats the City’s wastewater.
Why the Community Needs This Program
The Sunnyvale Cleanwater Program addresses several challenges that the Plant currently faces and will continue to do so in the future. The Plant’s infrastructure must periodically be repaired or replaced due to wear or to meet new safety and technology standards. The Plant, which has operated continuously since its construction in 1956, is one of the oldest treatment plants on the West Coast.
Condition assessments completed in 2009 evaluated the condition of the major processes at the Plant and identified the need for repair and replacement of facilities and equipment, some of which are currently underway.
About the Water Pollution Control Plant
The Plant provides treatment of wastewater from residential, commercial, and industrial sources from the City of Sunnyvale, the Rancho Rinconada portion of Cupertino, and Moffett Federal Airfield. The Plant is designed to combine physical, chemical, and natural biological processes to treat wastewater. This advanced treatment process produces effluent suitable for discharge into the San Francisco Bay. In addition to preventing pollution, the Plant is a source of recycled water and renewable power, reducing demand on the potable water supply and returning power to the grid. The Plant has served the community well for more than 60 years, and improvements and upgrades are needed to ensure the Plant meets future regulatory requirements and our community's growing needs.
