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Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP)

The City of Chico operates and maintains a modern 9 million-gallon per day (MGD), secondary treatment, activated sludge, wastewater treatment plant (WPCP). The plant operates under strict waste discharge requirements permitted by the California Water Resources Control Board. The discharge location for the treated wastewater (effluent) is the Sacramento River. We are currently undergoing a 12 MGD expansion project with future expandability to 15 MGD. Estimated completion of the project is in August 2010. The WPCP runs a State certified, full environmental laboratory for daily testing of the plant effluent to ensure its quality meets State standards.

The Chico Industrial Pretreatment Program (CIPP) is also run out of the WPCP. The CIPP program permits and controls wastewater discharges from businesses and industry that could potentially be harmful if allowed to be discharged into the environment.

The WPCP operations staff operate and maintain nine sewer lift pump stations that pump wastewater from areas in the City that do not have the ability to gravity flow to the City wastewater collection system.

A new 1.1 Megawatt, Solar Photovoltaic facility provides electric power to the WPCP, which reduces the plant use of utility power by approximately 35%. This Solar facility is one of the largest in the nation to be installed at a wastewater treatment plant.

There is also a 135-kilowatt co-generator on site that uses methane produced in the plant process as a fuel source to produce electricity. If you have any questions regarding wastewater issues, please contact us at msulik@ci.chico.ca.us or call the WPCP at (530) 894-4300.