Sewer

During the early 1960s, requests from local communities expanded EMWD's responsibilities beyond fresh water service to include sewage collection and treatment, and water recycling.

The first of these facilities was built in 1964 to serve a major retirement community developed by the Del E. Webb Corporation in Sun City. About that same time, residents in Hemet and San Jacinto wisely decided to take advantage of economies of scale and replace their individual municipal plants with a regional sewer system. Voters approved a $6.8 million bond issue for EMWD to build a 2.5-million-gallons-a-day (mgd) plant by 1965 that served a 167-square-mile service area. That plant has since been expanded to 11 mgd.

Next came the 8,000 residents of unincorporated Sunnymead (now a part of Moreno Valley), who supported a $4.8 million bond issue in 1966. That plant opened for business in 1968 at 1 mgd.

Temporary treatment began in the southern portion of EMWD's area in 1969, with a 1 mgd permanent facility opening in 1973. Located in the central commercial area of Temecula, this 95-acre facility is the smallest of EMWD's plants, but will be expanded from eight to 12 mgd capacity soon. Unlike EMWD's four other plants within the Santa Ana River watershed, the one in Temecula serves an area in the Santa Margarita River watershed.

The most recent regional plant was built in 1982 in Perris and has expanded several times. This facility receives wastewater from a 120-square-mile area and cleans it up to very high standards on the plant's 300-acre site. This facility is also targeted to eventually become EMWD's largest at 100 mgd, more than twice the size of any other plant.

Five regional treatment plants today serve some 180,000 connections, including those originating with local water agencies and municipalities. A network of pipelines extends for nearly 1,600 miles, supported by 45 lift (pumping) stations.