About the Wastewater Management Division

The Wastewater Management Division (WMD) is responsible for the collection, conveyance, treatment, and reclamation of wastewater generated by the residential, commercial, and industrial sewer customers in the Fresno-Clovis metropolitan area. Wastewater from homes and businesses in the Metropolitan area travels through approximately 1,600 miles of sanitary sewer lines maintained by the Wastewater Management Division to the Fresno-Clovis Regional Wastewater Reclamation Facility (RWRF) located southwest of Fresno.

The WMD is comprised of 179 full-time employees with a large variety of functions – from laboratory personnel to treatment operators, collection system maintenance workers to electricians, and mechanics to administrative staff.

There are two primary functions of the WMD: Collection System Maintenance (CSM) and Wastewater Treatment.

Collection System Maintenance
The City of Fresno owns and maintains the sanitary sewer collection system that serves the City and other participating agencies. The City’s collection system (sewer) and all related infrastructure are maintained by the Collection System Maintenance (CSM) workgroup of WMD.

The collection system is comprised of approximately 1,600 miles of pipes ranging from 6” to 84” in diameter that convey over 60 million gallons of sanitary sewer per day to the Fresno-Clovis Regional Wastewater Reclamation Facility (RWRF). Related infrastructure maintained by the CSM workgroup includes over 24,000 access structures (manholes) and 15 sewer lift stations.

CSM operators perform preventive maintenance and repair of the collection system on a daily basis, main line condition assessment and repairs, and the inspection of new connections to the sanitary sewer system main lines. CSM staff responds to sewer emergencies 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days per year.

Wastewater Treatment
Almost all wastewater generated from homes and businesses in Fresno metropolitan area travels to the Fresno-Clovis Regional Wastewater Reclamation Facility (RWRF) located at Jensen and Cornelia, southwest of the City of Fresno.

Highly trained, experienced, State-certified treatment plant operators are on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to oversee treatment plant processes and to react promptly to any situations that arise. Many controls of treatment processes are highly automated, requiring a great deal of technical expertise. Other processes require manual controls, which rely on the operators’ frequent physical presence to observe conditions and make adjustments.

Reliability at the Fresno-Clovis Regional Wastewater Reclamation Facility is very high. Critical treatment processes are designed with redundant equipment, which means that if a mechanical or electrical component fails, a spare or backup is waiting to take its place. Mechanical and electrical staff is on-call 24 hours a day in case of a failure that requires their immediate assistance. Maintenance staff aggressively cares for the equipment to predict and prevent breakdowns, further adding to the reliability of the facility.