What is Tertiary Treatment?
Tertiary treatment removes trace amounts of wastes from wastewater. Currently the City of Santa Barbara uses tertiary treatment to produce “recycled water.” Recycled water is used for use irrigating large landscaped areas and flushing toilets. Water that is not recycled is treated to almost the same level and discharged 1 1/2 miles off shore. No Evidence of Impact to Ocean The treated water from El Estero WWTP is carefully monitored before and after it is discharged. This monitoring shows that the current level of treatment protects the ocean environment and all of its uses by humans and marine life. There is no evidence that tertiary treatment would provide any additional protection of the ocean, in fact it is unlikely that there would be any measurable affect to the ocean.
