Wastewater Treatment Plants

Western operates two wastewater treatment plants within its service area: Western Riverside County Regional Wastewater Authority (WRCRWA) and March Wastewater Reclamation Facility (March WRF).

The WRCRWA plant, a tertiary facility capable of providing reclamation water for reuse or for discharge through an outfall to the Santa Ana River, was brought online in 1998. It has a design capacity for eight million gallons per day (MGD) with the capability for expansion to 32 MGD.

This new facility performs high levels of treatment through a number of consecutive wastewater treatment processes. Wastewater from Western's retail and wholesale customers, the City of Norco, Jurupa Community Services District and Home Gardens Sanitary District is collected through many miles of pipelines, pumped to the treatment plant, processed and discharged into the Santa Ana River.

WRCRWA is a public agency created to plan, construct and operate a cost effective regional wastewater reclamation treatment and collection system. The agencies that comprise the authority pledge to achieve this mission in a cooperative and coordinated manner to assure full environmental protection and successive beneficial use of the region's wastewater resources.

In 2006 , Western took ownership of equipment and materials to operate and maintain the MARB wastewater system that included a 0.75 MGD treatment plant. Western is responsible for emergency repairs, sampling and monitoring, and regulatory agency reports, as well as outside service contracts for lab work.

Western has completed an $11 million upgrade and expansion of the plant to 1.0 MGD and is finalizing design plans for an expansion to 3.0 MGD and upgrade to tertiary treatment level. The plant is now referred to as the March Wastewater Reclamation Facility.