On Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022, the City of Santa Rosa and its regional partners broke ground on a critical water recycling infrastructure replacement project at the Laguna Treatment Plant (Plant). The Plant, owned and operated by the City of Santa Rosa, is responsible for cleaning, treating, and disinfecting wastewater from the communities of Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Cotati, Sebastopol, and South Park County Sanitation District. The Plant produces almost 7 billion gallons of recycled water annually and serves a regional population of 230,000.  

At the Plant, UV disinfection is the very last step in water recycling before it can be beneficially reused for irrigation and renewable energy production. Almost 100% of the recycled water is reused for urban and agricultural irrigation, and to recharge Calpine’s geysers steamfields, which produces clean and renewable energy for the region. UV disinfection is an essential and highly regulated step in the treatment process and this project will ensure safe and reliable water recycling into the future, increase energy efficiency by requiring only half the energy of the current system, improve system redundancy and resiliency, and reduce maintenance costs. To learn more about Santa Rosa’s water recycling and reuse programs, visit: srcity.org/1052/Water-Reuse   

The construction of the new $68 million UV system will replace the aged-out UV disinfection system currently in use at the Plant. The UV replacement project is estimated to take three years to build and is funded by customer rates and fees. This major capital improve project was identified as a critical and necessary investment in our public water system. When complete, the new UV system will ensure safe and reliable water recycling for the 230,000 people in the region that rely on the Plant for wastewater treatment and watershed protection. To learn more about the project, visit: cippublic.srcity.org/ProjPages/284.html  

To commemorate the beginning of this major construction project, representatives from the City of Santa Rosa, City of Rohnert Park, City of Sebastopol, City of Cotati, and the South Park County Sanitation District broke ground.  

From right to left: Mike Thompson, South Park County Sanitation District/Sonoma Water; Erik Billing, City of Sebastopol; Maraskeshia Smith, Santa Rosa City Manager; Chris Rogers, Santa Rosa Mayor; Natalie Rogers, Santa Rosa Council Member; Dan Galvin, Santa Rosa Board of Public Utilities Chair; Jennifer Burke, City of Santa Rosa; Mary Grace Pawson, City of Rohnert Park; Craig Scott, City of Cotati.  

Also, in attendance were representatives from Senator Mike McGuire’s Office, Representative Mike Thompson’s Office, Assembly Member Jim Wood’s Office, as well as Santa Rosa City Council Members, Santa Rosa Board of Public Utilities Members, City of Santa Rosa staff and project contractors Brown & Caldwell, Carollo Engineers, GHS, Hazen and Sawyer, PSOMAS, Shimmick, and Kennedy Jenks.  

Many thanks to all that participated in today’s groundbreaking. Please be sure to check back from project updates.