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Protecting North County’s Ocean Environment


EWA ‘s number one goal is to protect water quality in our region so that local beaches are safe for swimming and marine life is not impacted.  The following programs are in place to help accomplish this goal.

Wastewater Treatment
EWA operates the Encina Water Pollution Control Facility (EWPCF), which treats about 22 million gallons of wastewater per day to remove solids and organic material.  The plant effluent typically achieves a 96% reduction in these pollutants even though EWA’s ocean discharge permit only requires 85% removal. Click here to read more.

Facilities Maintenance 
The EWPCF includes over $220 million in assets, which must be maintained to ensure operational reliability.  This is accomplished though implementation of a proactive preventive maintenance program and EWA’s Comprehensive Asset Management Program (CAMP), which provides the ability to forecast and schedule the rehabilitation and replacement of plant assets. Through this proactive approach, EWA is able to extend the life of plant equipment and thus save money for ratepayers. Click here to read more.
 

Laboratory Testing
EWA operates a State-certified laboratory that conducts over 10,000 tests annually including analysis of in-plant samples, wastewater effluent, ocean samples and biosolids.  Testing results demonstrate that the EWPCF consistently exceeds regulatory standards. Click here to read more.

 
 

Ocean Monitoring
EWA’s staff collects more than 2,000 samples a year from the Pacific Ocean, including shoreline and offshore monitoring for elevated bacteria levels.  Every five years, a more intensive study is conducted that includes analysis of sediment and various fish species surrounding the ocean outfall.   Testing results demonstrate that the local marine environment remains healthy. Click here to read more.

 
 

Source Control Program
The discharge of industrial wastewater into the sewer system is controlled through issuance of discharge permits, industry inspections and wastewater monitoring.   Although only required to do so annually, EWA staff conducts quarterly wastewater sampling to ensure businesses are complying with their discharge permit limitations. Click here to read more.

 

 
Capital Improvement Program
EWA invests in the future through an ongoing Capital Improvement Program (CIP).  The objective of the program is to improve our physical facilities, to ensure high performance and increase efficiency.  Each year the scope of the CIP is set through our formal Comprehensive Asset Management Plan (CAMP), which prioritizes and funds needed physical improvements. A recent CIP project that upgraded the solids treatment facilities saves the agency about two million dollars per year. The fiscal year 2013 E-CAMP can be viewed here.