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Wastewater Treatment

San Jose–Santa Clara Wastewater Treatment Plant tours

Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant (serving Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, East Palo Alto, and Stanford University) -- Tours of the RWQCP are a popular educational tool available to groups and individuals from the third grade and up. A video presentation that explains the basics of wastewater treatment can be borrowed prior to your visit, or can be viewed at the plant just before a tour. To make arrangements for a treatment plant tour call 650-329-2598. Please discuss your needs, interests, and time constraints with our staff. The best days for tours are Monday through Wednesday between of 8:00 am and 2:00 pm. Please schedule tours in advance so that we can make sure adequate staff members are available.

Go with the Flow (an interactive tour through a wastewater treatment facility)

Information about relevant State of California legislation

AB 939 --The Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 (AB 393 and SB 1322) mandated diversion of 25% of each city’s and county’s solid waste by 1995, and 50% by 2000. The law also required processes to ensure environmentally safe disposal of waste that could not be diverted.

History of California Solid Waste Law, 1985-1989
Integrated Waste Management Board

AB 1548 & AB 1721 -- California Education and the Environment Initiative (EEI) These laws mandate the development of a Unified Education Strategy to bring education about the environment into California’s primary and secondary schools.


Tours available from the Santa Clara Valley Water District
Alamitos Groundwater Recharge Facility
5750 Almaden Expressway, San Jose Grades 3+
This one-hour tour includes a percolation pond, gravel dam, weather station, drop structure and spillway, urban runoff display and nature labyrinth. Lessons include the water sources, water cycle, groundwater model demonstration, purposes of dams and reservoirs, watershed stewardship, and water conservation.

Coyote Creek Outdoor Classroom
791 Williams Street, San Jose Grades 4+
The Coyote Creek Outdoor Classroom lies on a site where massive flooding destroyed three homes in 1997. The tour and interactive lessons focus on a natural stream habitat, sampling water from a groundwater monitoring well, and plantings that feature native species and drought-tolerant gardening. Students will enjoy this visit to a flood plain, water quality testing, stream profiling activities, and watershed stewardship lessons.

Morley Park Outdoor Classroom
Technology Parkway, Campbell Grades 3+
In 2000, the SCVWD and City of Campbell collaborated to produce a 5-acre park adjacent to the McGlincey Percolation Ponds that includes trails, a large grass area, an oak upland habitat, a marshland with separate pond and wooden path, wildflower gardens, and picnic tables. The tour includes watershed, groundwater, urban runoff, wetlands, weather station, and water-quality testing activities.

Alameda County Water District (ACWD)
Mini-Grant Programs from ACWD (http://www.acwd.org/education_mini_grant.php5)
Each year, ACWD awards several mini-grants of up to $500 each to teachers for the development of water-related projects, activities, xeriscape gardens or field trips. All educators in grades K-12 within the ACWD service area are eligible to apply. There are no deadlines, and grants are processed throughout the year.

Field Trip from ACWD
Students in grades 4-12 can visit ACWD's Water Treatment Plant #2 on Mission Boulevard near Interstate 680. The plant is a state-of-the-art facility that uses ozone to disinfect water arriving from the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta via the South Bay Aqueduct. During the 90-minute program, students learn about ACWD's three sources of water and the purification process, and take a guided tour of the plant. Due to safety constraints, only one class may tour the plant at a time.