The City of San Diego – Public Utilities Department oversees three wastewater facilities in San Diego.
Population served: 2,300,000
The City of San Diego began managing its water utilities independently in 1901, taking over from early private firms such as the San Diego Water Company, founded in 1873. Over time, the city broadened its utility services to include regional wastewater management, eventually integrating water storage, treatment, and sewage services under the Public Utilities Department. This department, in its current form, was created during Fiscal Year 2009, when the city merged its separate Water and Metropolitan Wastewater departments into one entity.
COLLECTION SYSTEM
Recent Accomplishments: The Public Utilities/WWC Division has been using level monitors for the past 3 years to inspect and detect blockages in the sewer main. The monitors allow WWC staff to deploy its crews to the affected sewer main before a spill can occur. This system allows them to be more proactive in maintaining the sewer mains in our collection system.
The monitor works by being placed upstream of a location of interest and measuring sewer flow depth at regular intervals. This data is transmitted periodically to the Cloud, where a machine learning algorithm evaluates it for telltale signs of developing blockages. The monitor’s data will tell you that no blockage is detected, a blockage is probable and you should be proactive in your response before a spill occurs, or a blockage is probable and you should respond immediately.
The goal of the risk-based sewer cleaning optimization program is to ensure proper maintenance, operations, and management of all parts of the city’s wastewater collection system. Also, providing adequate capacity in the collection system to convey peak flows and to minimize the frequency of sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs). The risk-based optimization process utilizes existing attribute data from the City’s GIS and SAP, as well as data collected from inspections, to assign a series of LOFs and COFs for each pipe. Each pipe’s final risk rating will be determined using the highest LOF and COF score. The main objective of WWC management is to increase preventive maintenance on the collection system to reduce SSOs, clean all sewer mainlines at the identified required maintenance frequency, and conduct maintenance or inspection of each sewer mainline every five years.
“Employees who hold CWEA certifications are encouraged to attend classes that are offered at the annual CWEA – San Diego Section Collections System Committee’s vendor fair, the CWEA annual tri-state conference, and other CWEA courses that are offered throughout California. These classes give the employees CEUs applicable towards certification renewals, and give them more knowledge, skills, and abilities that they can use and bring back to the job.”
Could Your Agency Be Next?
CWEA is now accepting nominations for the 2026–27 Awards Program. If your collection system demonstrates excellence in operations, maintenance, innovation, safety, and service to its community, we encourage you to apply.
Collection System of the Year awards are presented in small, medium, and large categories. All nominees must be CWEA members and advance through their Local Section before completing the statewide application.
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