About SARI

The Santa Ana Regional Interceptor (SARI) is a pipeline that was constructed to protect the Santa Ana Watershed from desalter concentrate and various saline wastes. Organizations whose processes create high-saline waste that does not qualify for use, reclamation, and return to the region through the municipal sewer system domestic treatment plants, but does qualify for ocean discharge, can use the SARI line to transport the waste. The SARI pipeline carries the waste directly to specially-equipped treatment plants operated by the Orange County Sanitation District. After treatment, the waste is Discharged to the Pacific Ocean.

To qualify for SARI discharge, waste with high total dissolved solids (TDS)
must meet established local limits for heavy metals, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total suspended solids (TSS), total petroleum hydrocarbons, pH, total toxic organics, and pesticides.

There are two ways to discharge high-saline waste to the SARI system:
DIRECT WASTE GENERATOR or
INDIRECT WASTE GENERATOR

Direct generators are generators of waste that qualify for discharge to the SARI system and that are close enough to the SARI line to construct a direct-connect lateral between their facilities and the SARI line. The SARI pipeline follows the alignment of the Santa Ana River from the ocean to the Prado Dam west of Corona and then branches out. Reach IV-A extends north, paralleling the Corona Expressway into the Inland Empire Utilities Agency's service area. Reach IV-B extends into Corona and the westerly portion of Riverside. Reach IV-D extends northeasterly on the north side of the Santa Ana River to the San Bernardino Treatment Plant. The Temescal Valley Interceptor extends from Elsinore to Corona, paralleling the 15 Freeway.

Indirect generators are those generators of waste that qualify for discharge to the SARI system, yet are not located close enough to the SARI line for a direct connection or who generate a small amount of flow and find it more cost-effective to truck haul the waste to a collection station. The truck collection station is conveniently located near major transportation corridors in the western Inland Empire area. Another collection station is planned for the Elsinore area to serve the needs of those along the southern I- 15 corridor.

The following is a listing of the constituent limits for discharge to the SARI.

SARI Discharge MCLs
Measured in mg/L

Arsenic 2.0
Cadmium 1.0
Chromium (Total) 2.0
Copper 3.0
Lead 2.0
Mercury 0.03
Nickel 10.0
Silver 5.0
Zinc 10.0
Cyanide (Total) 5.0
Cyanide (Amenable) 1.0
Polychlorinated biphenyls 0.01
Pesticides 0.01
Total Toxic Organics TTO 0.58
Sulfide (Total) 5.0
Sulfide (Dissolved) 0.5
Oil and grease of mineral, petroleum origin TPH 100.00
pH 6 to 12 units

Subject to more stringent standards as established by Federal Categorical
Pretreatment Standards.

Prohibition on infectious waste
It is required that any discharge of infectious waste be rendered noninfectious prior to discharge if the infectious waste is deemed to pose a threat to the public health and safety or will result in any violation of applicable waste discharge requirements.