Please Do Not Flush Trash! 

Paper towels, rags, wipes, even most items that claim to be "flushable" DO NOT break down after being flushed, and they can create major problems in your home and City sewer systems. Please be sure to throw paper towels, rags, baby wipes & other cleaning wipes in the garbage, and make sure all floor drains within your home or business are protected with grating.

“Rags” is the sewer utility term for fibrous materials that don’t break down after being flushed down your plumbing. Rags and other items disposed of improperly within the sewer system can damage sewer pumping equipment and impede pumping operations at sewer lift stations and the wastewater treatment plant.

They wrap around impellers inside system pumps and then have to be manually removed. Such clogging hinders the operation of pumps and diminishes their efficiency, which subsequently causes back-ups and high levels in lift stations. This creates a threat of sewer system overflows that can be a serious hazard to public health and the environment.

Additionally, it creates unnecessary maintenance expense that can eventually impact customer rates and bills.

Untangling sewer pumps and valves from the tightly wound-up mess of wipes and rags is a dirty and dangerous task for Port Hueneme Wastewater crews. The frequency of sewers clogging with wipes is rising fast, and in the worst cases, some pump stations clog every day. If a storm hits and balls of rags and wipes get flushed into the pumps, it could cause a sewer system overflow.

Impellers can become so tightly bound with rags that knives or wire cutters are needed to cut them off. To accomplish this, Wastewater crews have to enter dangerous confined spaces, tear apart pumps & remove balls of wipes and rags that contain disease and hypodermic needles.

Your assistance is needed to stop the practice of placing rags, towels, cleaning wipes, feminine hygiene products, gloves, as well as objects such as rope, mop-heads and even old clothing, into the sewer system. 

Please flush only toilet paper & facial tissues, and protect your home, City Wastewater crews, the city sewer system, and the environment!

City wastewater division

The Wastewater Division operates and maintains the City’s 5 wastewater pump stations and approximately 32 miles of underground wastewater collection system piping. A majority of the collection system is 50 years old or greater. The system has over 5,000 service connections and 700 manholes. The primary function of the Wastewater Division is to protect the health and safety of the public, as well as to protect the environment.

Contact the Wastewater Division at: (805) 986-6561

Equipment

Wastewater staff operates state-of-the-art equipment including a closed circuit TV pipeline inspection system, in ground (no excavation) pipeline repair equipment, high-pressure pipeline cleaning equipment, vacuum trucks, and specialized safety equipment.

Staff utilizes the equipment to perform various preventative maintenance activities in addition to performing capital repair and rehabilitation projects.

Pumping stations are equipped with automated electronic controls that minimize electrical usage, provide alarm systems to alert staff to problems, and ensure wastewater flows to the treatment plant without service interruption.

System

The City’s system transports sewer flows from the Naval Base Ventura County Construction Battalion Center, Oxnard Harbor District and the City of Port Hueneme. Sewer flows total approximately 2 million gallons per day. These flows are transported through a series of pumped force mains and gravity lines ranging from 6 inches to 36 inches in diameter. The collected wastewater flows to the regional wastewater treatment facility located in, and operated by, the City of Oxnard. Once there it is treated, tested for compliance and discharged into the Pacific Ocean through an outfall that extends 5 miles from the coastline.

WASTEWATER RATES

The City adopted the rates below on July 1, 2014. Residential customers pay a flat monthly charge for wastewater service. Commercial customers pay a volumetric charge based on metered water use and customer class, subject to a minimum monthly charge per unit. The rate for each commercial class varies based on wastewater strength. The volumetric commercial wastewater rates apply to each hundred cubic feet (hcf) of water use and assume that 75% of water use is discharged into the City’s sewer system.

• RESIDENTIAL - Fixed Monthly Charge Per Dwelling Unit - $36.00 
• COMMERCIAL¹ - Rate per one hundred cubic feet (hcf) of metered water use.
  • Standard Strength² - $2.71   Med-High Strength³ - $4.20   High Strength⁴ - $5.40   Schools - $2.40
  • Minimum Monthly Charge for Commercial - $36.00

1 Standard classifications shown; the City reserves the authority to assign accounts to customer classes and/or to establish other rates for specific customers on a case by case basis as needed to help ensure rates reflect the cost of providing service.

2 Includes general commercial and other standard strength commercial customers. 

3 Includes hotels/motels with dining facilities, and mixed use accounts with high strength flow accounting for between 25% and 75% of total wastewater flow.

4 Includes restaurants, bakeries, mortuaries, supermarkets with food preparation or garbage disposals, and mixed use accounts with high strength flow accounting for 75% or more of total wastewater flow.