In the 1960s, at the current location of SOCWA’s J.B. Latham Treatment Facility, a small trickling filter is operated, with flow coming from the Dana Point Sanitary District, the Capistrano Beach Sanitary District and the City of San Juan Capistrano. Plans to expand the facility to an activated sludge wastewater facility begin in the mid 1960s as these agencies realize that South Orange County is rapidly beginning to grow. It’s the beginning of the idea to create regional wastewater partnerships to plan for the area’s coming needs.

Although the oldest portions of the Coastal Treatment Plant date to around 1950, the South Coast Water District expands the facility in 1967 to meet the growing wastewater needs of coastal South Orange County.

Seeking a more regional approach to wastewater, the cities of San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano partnered with the Capistrano Beach and Dana Point sanitary districts and the Moulton Niguel, Santa Margarita and South Coast water districts in 1970 to form the South East Regional Reclamation Authority (SERRA), providing coordinated wastewater services to the eastern portion of South Orange County.

Two years later, the Aliso Water Management Agency (AWMA) was formed by the City of Laguna Beach, Emerald Bay Services District and the El Toro, Los Alisos, Moulton Niguel and South Coast water districts to provide a coordinated approach to wastewater for the western portion of South Orange County.

Seeking a way to safely and efficiently dispose of treated effluent, SERRA constructs the San Juan Creek Ocean Outfall in 1980, which transports treated effluent from the J.B. Latham Plant to approximately two miles off the coast of Doheny Beach.

South Orange County continues its transition from ranchland to ranch homes, and the Joint Regional Treatment Plant is built in 1981 to meet the growing wastewater needs of the Laguna Niguel area. The plant design incorporates the use of gases from the wastewater treatment process to operate co-generation equipment, which provides the facility with nearly two thirds of its electrical power needs. The plant provides additional community benefits by pumping hot water from the co-generation equipment to heat a local community pool.

At the same time, AWMA constructs the Aliso Creek Ocean Outfall to transport effluent approximately one mile off the coast of Laguna Beach from the Joint Regional Treatment Plant, Coastal Treatment Plant, and water recycling plants operated by the El Toro and Los Alisos water districts.

An early visionary to the value of water, South Coast Water District builds one of the region’s first advanced water treatment facilities at the Coastal Treatment Plant in 1983 to treat and deliver recycled water. Today, combined with advanced water treatment at two of its other wastewater plants, SOCWA produces nearly six billion gallons of recycled water each year, greatly reducing South Orange County’s reliance on costly, less reliable water sources imported from Northern California and the Colorado River.

As South Orange County nears build-out, Plant 3A, the region’s final wastewater treatment facility, comes on line in 1991 to meet the needs of current and planned residents of the Moulton Niguel and Santa Margarita water districts.

The SERRA and AWMA Boards of Directors approve the Industrial Management Program to coordinate treatment of wastewater from the region’s growing business community. With the program’s help, all of the region’s industrial users have met state wastewater discharge standards for nearly a decade.

Heavy storms during the 1998 El Nino season expose several key wastewater pipelines near the east bank of Aliso Creek. An emergency project to repair the creek bank was successfully completed before any major failures occurred.

SOCWA was created on July 1, 2001, merging the SERRA, AWMA and SOCRA entities into one newly consolidated joint powers authority to meet the wastewater needs of more than 500,000 homes and businesses across South Orange County.

Once established, SOCWA begins work later in 2001 with several of its member agencies on policies and agreements to provide for the discharge of brine to its ocean outfalls from the agencies’ local brackish water-supply projects. Over the next several years, the City of San Juan Capistrano, the Irvine Ranch Water District and the South Coast Water District each build and begin operating groundwater desalter projects, and SOCWA’s two ocean outfalls begin discharging more than just treated wastewater effluent.

SOCWA enters into a partnership in 2002 with the Doheny Beach Interpretive Center to educate local beachgoers about ecology, the harmful effects litter and wasteful watering practices have on our shoreline, and the many steps SOCWA and other agencies take to protect the environment.

Heavy storm flows in the winter of 2004 washed out portions of the west bank of Aliso Creek and AWMA Road, the only access road connecting the Coastal Treatment Plant to Alicia Parkway. A temporary emergency road was quickly constructed, allowing SOCWA to maintain service, and the road was permanently relocated away from the creek the following summer.

SOCWA was honored in 2007 with the National Association of Clean Water Agencies’ Platinum Peak Performance Award for five consecutive years of 100 percent compliance at the Aliso Creek Ocean Outfall.

A panel of wastewater experts at the California Water Environment Association names SOCWA’s J.B. Latham Treatment Plant as the 2010 Mid-Sized Plant of the Year for the Santa Ana River Basin region, which includes Orange, Riverside and portions of San Bernardino counties.

In 2011, SOCWA celebrates its 10th anniversary of meeting South Orange County’s wastewater needs, and looks forward to continuing its role as a key protector of the environment and public health.