On July 17, 2002, the Orange County Sanitation District Board of Directors voted to change course and provide full secondary treatment of wastewater by December 31, 2012. Over the next 10 years, the District completed four massive construction projects on time and under budget to meet this goal. By the end of 2012, the District had kept its promise to taxpayers by upgrading all of its treatment facilities to provide full secondary treatment.

1. Promise Kept.
Full Secondary Treatment
2002 – 2012

2. promise kept.
S
ince our first NPDES permit was issued in 1981, the Sanitation District
operated under a special provision of the Clean Water Act allowing us to
treat wastewater at a level less than full secondary treatment. That night,
the Board of Directors courageously committed to moving to 100 percent
secondary treatment. The decision would ultimately cost hundreds of
millions of dollars and take 10 years to complete.
Today, we stand at the precipice of our remarkable achievement.
December 31, 2012 signals the formal end to our job. Ten years later, our
work is complete, on time and on budget.
We kept our promise. It is constructed and in full operation—producing
clean secondary effluent to protect the ocean environment and to provide
increased flows for recycling to enhance our water supplies.
I especially wish to thank our Board of Directors for their vision and
support planning and implementing the Capital Improvement Program
and all those directors that offered their support and guidance since the
vote in 2002.
{ }
This year also signals the end to my tenure at the Orange County
Sanitation District. I am extremely proud of the work accomplished these
On July 17, 2002, past seven years. And I look forward with anticipation to watching the
Sanitation District continue to build on our success.
the Orange County
Sanitation District
Board of Directors James D. Ruth
voted to change General Manager
course
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3. commitment
strong.
p. 2 | 2 012- 2 013 a nn ual r eport

4. passion stronger.
In the fall of 2002, a core group of 34 Orange County Sanitation District employees laid out and
signed a Capital Improvement Program Charter. With those signatures, we began the process of
defining, developing, and meeting our goals.
Central to that process was the development of our Guiding Principles. They included sharing
all that we learned honestly and respectfully, and in an understandable and clear manner—total
transparency. We would hold each other and ourselves accountable, be open to new ideas, and
apply lessons learned. Those tenets were essential to our success, without them, we would not be
where we are today.
Over the years, our passionate employees, and committed board members worked diligently to
keep our promise to you the ratepayer.
2 01 2 - 2 013 a nnua l rep ort | p. 3

5. challenge met.
I
n order to meet the compliance regulations of the 2002 Federal Consent
Decree, we needed to complete four massive construction projects by
December 31, 2012.
The trickling filter and clarifier project constructed two new trickling
filters and two clarifiers. Also included was the construction of a new
power building and two effluent lines. One line ran to the Groundwater
Replenishment inlet structure and the other in the 66-inch interplant line.
Each clarifier holds approximately 3 million gallons of water and 12
million square feet of media surface area (enough to cover Plant No. 1
three times.) The structures supported by 1,902 precast concrete pilings
weighing 6 tons each, if laid end-to-end would span 12 miles. The amount
of dirt excavated would fill a football field 11 ft. high.
Design: Black & Veatch
Contractor: J.R. Filanc Construction Company
Construction budget: $39,145,000 (under budget)
{ }
Construction cost: $35,185,946
Construction duration: 1803 days
Consent Decree: 29 days ahead of schedule
P1-76 Awards: CMAA Southern California Chapter,
Project of the Year, 2007
Trickling Filter
Rehabilitation and
New Clarifiers
29 days ahead
of schedule
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6. “P1-76 was a successful project because there was
excellent team support all working together to meet both
the process demands of the new facility as well as ensure
we meet the consent decree requirements. A key element
of the success is during the preliminary development
a collaborative project team was established which
included team members from Operations and
Maintenance, Process Automation Group,
Engineering, Compliance, and the Laboratory.”
Tony Lee
Chief Plant Operator
Project P1-76
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7. on time.
I
n 2008 the Activated Sludge Plant was completed allowing us to
successfully check off another milestone requirement. The goal was met
290 days ahead of schedule.
The rehabilitation project consisted of replacing major mechanical
equipment such as gates, valves, impeller blades, and piping that had begun
to fail or was at the end of its useful life. Large diameter pipes were relined,
odor control was added to the aeration basin splitter box, bleach pipelines
and injection points were installed and instrumentation and controls
were updated.
Design: MWH Americas, Inc.
Contractor: J.F. Shea Construction
Construction budget: $10,679,019 (under budget)
Construction cost: $10,330,573
Construction duration: 749 days
Consent Decree: 290 days ahead of schedule
{ }
P2-74
Rehabilitation
of the Activated
Sludge Plant
290 days ahead
of schedule
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8. “Moving into rehab means you’re moving into risk.
In particular, this project involved handling pure
oxygen and sensitive biological processes. Through
teamwork and problem solving, we worked through
the risks, sweated the details, and successfully
completed construction 290 days ahead of the
Consent Decree milestone.”
Kathleen Millea
CIP Project Management Supervisor
Project P2-74
2 01 2 - 2 013 a nnua l rep ort | p. 7

9. on budget.
T
he Trickling Filters at Plant No. 2 are the largest facilities of its kind in the
United States and second in the world. It consists of three trickling filters,
six clarifiers, a pump station, solids contact station, piping, and electrical
controls. It cost $180 million to construct.
The mammoth structure consists of 5.3 million square feet of media
surface area. Workers poured over 50,000 cubic yards of concrete—the
equivalent of a 4-inch layer of concrete from the Huntington Beach Pier
to Las Vegas.
Planning, design and construction spanned over nine years. Originally
delayed, the project made up time despite numerous challenges.
Design: Brown and Caldwell
Contractor: J.F. Shea Construction
Construction budget: $184,618,097 (under budget)
Construction cost: $180,722,248
Construction duration: 1600 days
{ }
Consent Decree: 64 days ahead of schedule
Awards: CMAA Southern California Chapter,
Project of the Year, 2012
P2-90 Trickling
Filters at Plant 2
64 days ahead
of schedule in
spite of numerous
challenges
p. 8 | 2 012- 2 013 a nn ual r eport

10. “At the commissioning of P2-90, I asked employees to stand if they
prepared correspondence, attended a meeting, applied for permits,
performed a laboratory test, attended training, oversaw safety,
helped regulate an industry that could damage the new facility,
cleaned a sewer so that sewage could get into the plant and or
other duties related to the construction of the project. Most, if not
all, of the employees stood up. That is a testament to the hundreds
of people it took to get this done.”
Jim Herberg
Assistant General Manager/ Director of Engineering
Project P2-90
2 01 2 - 2 013 a nnua l rep ort | p. 9

11. direction clear.
T
he largest project constructed at our Fountain Valley facility required
crews to install almost 49 miles of piles, 9½ miles of pipe, and excavate
325,000 cubic yards of dirt. That’s enough dirt to fill up 440 single-family
homes.
It consists of six aeration basins, six clarifiers, a blower building and return
sludge and waste pumping station over 12 acres of land. It took them about
two years and close to 40 truck trips a day to pour 56,000 cubic yards
of concrete.
The civil, structural, and mechanical work for this project, took over
370,000 labor hours over a course of four years.
Our Capital Improvement Program is now entering a new phase geared
toward rehabilitation and modernization of older facilities to ensure that
our ratepayers receive reliable, environmentally responsible service 24/7.
Design: Black & Vetch
{ }
Contractor: Kiewit Pacific Co.
Construction budget: $208,483,860 (under budget)
Construction cost: $208,400,502
Construction duration: 2008 days
P1-102 Consent Decree: 115 days ahead of schedule
New Secondary
Treatment System
115 days ahead
of schedule
p.10 | 2 012- 2 013 a nn ual report

12. “I think the reason for the success is that we were
provided clear direction (Board vote) and then had
the entire OCSD team make it happen. From upper
management to us team members on the rungs
below, we knew where we had to go and we worked
together to get there. We also received excellent
support from our IPMC folks as well as design
consultants and contractors.”
Brian Bingman
Resident Engineer
Project P1-102
2 01 2 - 2 013 a nnua l rep ort | p.11

13. finances solid.
Where th
Property
$64.0M
6%
Taxes
e Money
Other
$7.5M
1%
arges
Comes Fr
Interest
$12.1M
1%
om
Where th
Debt
$82.6M
8%
Operating
e Money G
CIP
$137.3M
14%
oes
Intradistric
$4.2M
1%
t
Ending Re
serves
$613.6M
62%
A n “AAA” rating is one of the highest for a government agency. To
maintain this rating, OCSD adheres to its coverage ratios and Board
approved Debt Policy. This Board-adopted policy serves as the agency’s
guide to manage existing debt and the issuance of future debt.
As the result of having adequately funded
reserves, experienced management, and
prudent planning, the District was able to
Fees & Ch Reserves $153.7M
$303.9M
31%
Beginning M
$603.9 15% secure “AAA” credit ratings from both
61%
Fitch Ratings and Standard and Poor’s.
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Lorenzo Tyner
Director of Finance and Administrative Services
p.1 2 | 2 01 2- 2 013 a nn ual r eport

14. future bright.
O ur commitment to preserving a healthy way of life and economic
well-being for Orange County remains firm and extends well into the
future with an aggressive, ongoing capital improvement program.
During the past 10 years alone, we have spent $1.9 billion in
construction projects to improve and sustain our quality of life.
We continue to research new technologies to further protect the
environment and recycle treated sewage.
{ }
We are doing things
to maintain healthy
infrastructure to
promote sustainable
communities
2 01 2 - 2 013 a nnua l rep ort | p.13

15. world’s first.
I
n collaboration with the University of California Irvine and the
National Fuel Cell Research Center, we launched an experimental fuel
cell—the first of its kind in the world. It turned our Fountain Valley
treatment plant into a filling station for hydrogen cars.
Drivers of hydrogen-fueled cars can fill up with converted sewage
waste that offers the equivalent of 70 miles per gallon. The project
simultaneously converts wastewater to electricity and heat in a highly
efficient, clean manner.
The station was designed by UCI, FuelCell Energy Inc., which makes
pollution-free power plants, and Air Products & Chemicals Inc.,
the biggest U.S. supplier of industrial gases. The U.S. Department of
Energy, the California Air Resources Board, and the South Coast Air
Quality Management District provided funding.
{ } The world’s first
hydrogen fuel
station powered
by wastewater
p.14 | 2 012- 2 013 a nn ual report

16. leading edge.
Our ocean monitoring team is investigating the cause of changes to
fish and invertebrate communities near the ocean outfall. It is a
two-phased multi-disciplinary study comprised of about 12 smaller
projects designed to identify the source(s) of the change. A final project
report detailing the studies and providing recommendations for
mitigation is due in January 2013.
Another effort currently underway by ocean program scientists is a
sediment mapping study. This study will optimize the placement of our
sediment sampling stations to provide the best quality data to detect
potential environmental change in the most efficient way possible.
The study utilizes advanced statistical techniques taking advantage of
three decades of our ocean monitoring data coupled with targeted
field sampling to fill in identified data gaps. The project is being
conducted with assistance from the Southern California Coastal Water
{ }
Research Project.
Leading the way
in marine science
2 01 2 - 2 013 a nnua l rep ort | p.15

17. course set.
We’re committed to recycling our biosolids in a sustainable manner that
includes a diverse portfolio of options. Biosolids will continue to enrich
soils through land application (producing hay at desert farms) and
composting (producing soil amendment).
Due to recent changes in our program (ending an expense energy
option, renewing land application contracts, and allocating a small
portion to landfill), OCSD will see significant savings in our $18
million biosolids hauling and management program. In addition,
new dewatering centrifuges and the cessation of Irvine Ranch Water
District solids to our treatment plant will reduce our biosolids
production by about one-third by 2017, slashing future program cost
projections to about $12 million.
{ } Diversity
remains the key
to our biosolids
program
p.16 | 2012- 2 013 a nn ual r eport

18. goals defined.
O dors are inherent to treating wastewater and we continue our
good neighbor policy. Our goal is to limit offsite odor impacts in a
comprehensive and cost effective manner. That means no odors leave
the plant boundaries and affect our surrounding communities.
While significant reductions of offsite odors occurred during the last five
years, we are in the process of designing or constructing projects that
will further limit odors.
{ The goal is to
limit offsite odor
impacts }
2 01 2 - 2 013 a nnua l rep ort | p.17

19. simple message.
powerful results.
T
echnology and science can accomplish amazing things but when it
comes right down to it, often-simple things we do every day can create
or solve the problem.
This year we launched our new campaign “What 2 Flush.” It is
simple—only three things go down the drain—the three “P’s.” Human
waste and toilet paper should be the only things going down the toilet.
Over the years, people have turned the toilet into a trashcan. From
medications and sanitary products to deceased pet fish and cigarette
butts, if it fits, people flush it. Flushing these types of items down the
toilet causes home pipes to clog, wastes water (up to 5 gallons of water
{ }
every time you flush) and most importantly can have a huge impact on
our sewers, not to mention our ocean.
The new campaign with its simple universal logo is recognizable on
stickers, t-shirts, hats and grocery bags throughout the county. A high
Only three things school video contest produced four fun public services announcements
that will soon be on screens near you! Over 250,000 of Orange County
go down the drain— residents learned about the program at various community events
the three “P’s this year.
The only thing that should be going down the drain is what comes out
of the faucet!
p.18 | 2 012- 2 013 a nn ual report

20. the board.
Anaheim La Habra Tustin
Gail Eastman Tom Beamish John Nielsen
Brea La Palma Villa Park
Don Schweitzer Mark Waldman Brad Reese
Buena Park Los Alamitos Yorba Linda
Fred Smith Troy Edgar John Anderson
(Chair) (Vice Chair)
Cypress
Prakash Narain Newport Beach Costa Mesa Sanitary District
Steven Rosansky James M. Ferryman
Fountain Valley
Larry Crandall Orange Midway City Sanitary District
Jon Dumitru Joy L. Neugebauer
Fullerton
Greg Sebourn Placentia Irvine Ranch Water District
Scott Nelson John Withers
Garden Grove
Bill Dalton Santa Ana Member of the Board
Sal Tinajero of Supervisors
Huntington Beach Janet Nguyen
Joe Carchio Seal Beach
Michael Levitt
Irvine
Jeffrey Lalloway Stanton
David Shawver
2 01 2 - 2 013 a nnua l rep ort | p.19

21. awards.
National Awards State Awards
2012 National Environmental Achievement Award General Manager of the Year—James D. Ruth
National Association of Clean Water Agencies California Special District Association
Bitter Point Pump Station—Award of Merit Outstanding Public Outreach/Education Award (large agency)—social
for Best Civil Works/Infrastructure Project media efforts
Engineering News Record California Association of Sanitation Agencies
Peak Performance Gold Award (Plant No. 1 and Plant No. 2) Award for Excellence, Information Technology Practices
National Association of Clean Water Agencies Municipal Information Systems Association of California
2012 Jennings Randolph Fellowship Award—Dr. Carla Dillon Regional Awards
The Eisenhower Institute Operator of the Year—Mike Haworth
California Water Environment Association—Santa Ana River Basin Section
17th Annual Achievement of Excellence in Procurement Award
National Procurement Institute Engineering Achievement Award for Plant No. 2 Headworks Project
California Water Environment Association—Santa Ana River Basin Section
100 Best Fleets Award
Research Achievement Award for engine emissions control
Savvy Award demonstration project
City-County Communications and Marketing Association California Water Environment Association—Santa Ana River Basin Section
Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting CMAA 2012 Project of the Year—Plant No. 2 Trickling Filters Project
Government Finance Officers Association Construction Management Association Of America—Southern California
Chapter
Orange County Analyst of the Year—Marty England
Help Desk Institute
p. 2 0 | 2 012- 2 013 a nn ual report

22. strong team.
I PMC. A revolutionary approach to managing a nearly impossible goal.
In 2002, we set out on a 10-year, multibillion-dollar capital improvement program consisting of
179 projects to be planned, designed, and constructed in order to have the necessary treatment
facilities in place by December 2012.
Integrated Program Management Consultants (IPMC), a joint venture of CH2M HILL and
Parsons, provided program and construction management support services to upgrade our two-
wastewater treatment plants, upgrade and/or replace regional pump stations, and refurbish/
replace numerous large-diameter sewer lines that collect and transport the wastewater.
IPMC staff were collocated and integrated with OCSD staff onsite at our two operating plants
allowing all three companies to use their collective experience in scheduling the projects,
managing design consultants, conducting engineering reviews on submittals, and reporting
on program/project status. This novel approach allowed us to pull from a wealth of uniquely
qualified professionals with unique skill sets. We pulled from IPMC staffing to scale up and down
as needed to meet the fluctuating resource needs of the program. It provided a unified—and
seamless—team approach with each organization learning skills from the other.
To the most important characters in this story…
A special thank you to our employees who made this day happen—on time and on budget. To those who stood by—from beginning to end, contributed and moved on, or joined us along the way… thank you. Your
contributions will not be forgotten. This greatness of this institution lies in all who dedicated themselves to the hard work of the past 58 years and those who will continue our mission to protect the health and the
environment of Orange County.
2 01 2 - 2 013 a nnua l rep ort | p. 21

23. Reclamation Plant No. 1 (Administration Offices)
10844 Ellis Avenue • Fountain Valley, California 92708 • 714.962.2411
Treatment Plant No. 2
22212 Brookhurst Street • Huntington Beach, California 92646
www.ocsewers.com
© OCSD 10/2012