Administration Tel: (408) 615-2000 Fax: (408) 247-0784
Utility Billing Tel: (408) 615-2300 Fax: (408) 241-1543
Recycled Water The South Bay Water Recycling Program was initiated to reduce the discharge of treated water flowing from the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant into San Francisco Bay. The plant operates under a discharge limit of 120 million gallons a day during the summer to help maintain the salt marsh habitat of the South Bay. The discharge of the Plant's highly-treated water into the Bay was believed to be endangering the salt marsh habitat of two endangered species, converting the saltwater marsh to fresh water and (brackish water) marsh. To help preserve this habitat, rather than discharging the treated water into the Bay, the recycled water system helps to divert this water to other uses, and keeps the discharge under the established flow limit.
In 1989, the City of Santa Clara completed the first significant recycled water transmission and delivery system in the South Bay. The system utilized treated water from the jointly owned San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant to irrigate the Santa Clara Golf & Tennis Club and for other non-potable applications within the City of Santa Clara. The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board granted Santa Clara this early permission to utilize recycled water for many purposes. The uses included landscape irrigation at the City's then new Santa Clara Golf & Tennis Club and at a nearby City park, for street median landscaping, dust control for construction projects, sewer cleaning and street cleaning. The project was nationally recognized as the 1989 winner of the American City & County Award of Merit in the water supply category. As the project was being completed, the Santa Clara Valley began to experience several years of drought. Santa Clara's recycled water project was the envy of the region, allowing the City's golf course to stay green, and saving enough potable water for 1,400 homes a year. Santa Clara's initial municipal use of treated water from the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant grew regionally in the 1990s.
Currently, more than 100 miles of recycled water pipelines are delivering recycled water for landscaping, playing fields, golf course, cemeteries, industrial processing, dual-plumbing, agriculture and other non-drinking water purposes. Program participants and partners with Santa Clara include the cities of San Jose and Milpitas, County Sanitation Districts 2 & 3, West Valley Sanitation District, Burbank and Sunol Sanitary Districts, Cupertino Sanitary District, Santa Clara Valley Water District, San Jose Water Company, and the Great Oaks Water Company. In addition to Santa Clara's use of recycled water at our golf course, local parks, and in some landscape medians, businesses in Santa Clara utilizing recycled water for non-potable uses include the San Francisco 49ers for their practice fields, Sun Microsystems, Intel, California Paperboard, California's Great America, and many more. In Santa Clara, recycled water is available for non-potable uses by businesses, industries, parks, and schools along pipeline routes in the area north of Central Expressway and along Lafayette Street, and along Saratoga Avenue in Santa Clara.
For more information call (408) 615-2000 or visit the
South Bay Water Recycling website.