Sewer

Riverside Water Quality Control Plant

The Riverside Water Quality Control Plant (RWQCP) is located at 5950 Acorn Street Riverside, CA 92504. The plant is currently being expanded and retrofitted to meet the needs of future generations. This plant expansion will also introduce several new technologies designed to produce high quality effluent water and increase the plant’s efficiency.

As currently constituted, the RWQCP consists of two separate treatment plants and one common tertiary filtration plant. These provide preliminary, primary, secondary and tertiary treatment for a rated capacity of 40 million gallons per day (MGD) or enough to fill up 61 Olympic size pools.

1. Preliminary Treatment
   Screens out large objects through mechanical bar screen and removes rocks and other heavy objects through grit screen chambers.
2. Primary Treatment
   Sewage flows through clarifiers where solids settle to the bottom while grease and oils rise to the surface and are skimmed off.
3. Secondary (Biological) Treatment
   Air is injected into the water to encourage microorganism growth that consumes waste suspended in the water. The microorganisms eventually settle to the bottom of the secondary sedimentation tank and are returned to the process for additional use.
4. Tertiary Treatment
   Wastewater is passed through filters to remove viruses and suspended particles.
5. Disinfection/Dechlorination
   Chlorine is injected to the wastewater to eliminate pathogens. The final water product is then "dechlorinated" to protect the habitat in the receiving Santa Ana River.
6. Sludge Disposal
   Sludge produced during various treatment steps is pumped to the digesters. The digested sludge is dewatered, dried, and transported off-site for Sludge Disposal.