Residents are also a discharger to the City’s wastewater collection system. Everything that is flushed down the toilet, washed down the sink, or poured down the drain travels through the City's collection system and ends up at the Ventura Water Reclamation Facility. When the wrong stuff is sent down the drain, it can negatively impact the City's treatment system and cause harm to the environment. 

Think Before You Flush

Putting trash down the kitchen sink or any other drain in the house can cause pipes to clog, burst or backup. This can potentially lead to expensive, hazardous spills in your home, business, and even our streets, rivers and ocean. For more information, visit the Think Before You Flush webpage.

Kitchen Fats, Oils, Grease (FOG)

When fats, oils, and grease (FOG) is poured down kitchen drains, it accumulates inside sewer system pipes. As FOG builds up, it restricts the flow in the pipes and can cause untreated wastewater to back up into homes, businesses and streets, resulting in high costs for clean up and restoration.’

Luckily you can do your part to prevent these overflows and costs to our City. Never pour FOG down sink drains, garbage disposal or toilets. Instead collect your kitchen FOG in containers and dispose of in the proper trash receptacle. To find out more tips on what you can do to protect our pipes please visit the FOG webpage.

Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CEC)

Constituents of emerging concern (CECs) are a large group of constituents that may or may not pose a risk to human health and aquatic species. There is no single definition of the term, but generally they are constituents that are typically not well-monitored and are not regulated from a water quality perspective, that is, chemicals for which there are no water quality standards or regulatory thresholds.

CECs are defined as coming from the following sources:

• Personal care products
• Pharmaceuticals
• Antimicrobials
• Industrial
• Agricultural
• Household products
• Naturally occurring hormones
• Food additives
• Transformation products
• Inorganic constituents
• Microplastics
• Nanomaterials

As the City of Ventura moves forward with the VenturaWaterPure Project and the construction of an advanced water purification facility, the need to reduce CECs coming into the Ventura Water Reclamation Facility will become increasingly important.  Conventional wastewater treatment facilities are not designed to treat and remove CECs present in our influent (incoming wastewater). Additionally, CECs have been found to have adverse effects on wildlife when released into the environment. Negative effects on humans from CECs have not become evident through current research though it should be noted this research is still in its early stages.

The State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) has begun developing regulations for CECs in recycled water. These regulations will require Ventura Water to monitor for CECs with health-based significance, CECs that serve as performance indicators, and non-CECs that serve as performance surrogates. To ensure healthy source waters for the future special attention must be given to reduce the amount of CECs reaching our treatment facility.