ABSTRACT
Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs) serve the sewage treatment and disposal needs of over 12 million Southern Californians. In 1979, along with the other major Southern California POTWs, the Los Angeles County Sanitation District (LACSD) submitted a massive 3-volume document to Environmental Protection Agency on September 15th, the official deadline for applicants. In 1977 the State Water Resources Control Board estimated that the four major Southern California POTWs discharging one million gallons per day would save $33 million per year by having waivers. The LACSD, along with almost a dozen other California POTWs, applied in September 1979 for a waiver of full secondary treatment requirements for the Joint Water Pollution Control Plant (JWPCP). The JWPCP serves two distinct functions: primary treatment and ocean disposal of wastewaters, and centralized solids processing which includes sludge digestion, dewatering, and compost drying.
