County Sanitation Districts

The Sanitation Districts protect public health and the environment through innovative and cost-effective wastewater and solid waste management, and in doing so convert waste into resources such as recycled water, energy, and recycled materials.

The Sanitation Districts are a public agency created under state law to manage wastewater and solid waste on a regional scale and consist of 24 independent special districts serving about 5.5 million people in Los Angeles County. The service area covers approximately 824 square miles and encompasses 78 cities and unincorporated territory within the county.

The Sanitation Districts have been a leader in providing wastewater and solid waste management services to the region since the formation of the first districts in 1923. Today, the wastewater system includes approximately 1,400 miles of sewers, 48 active pumping plants, and 11 wastewater treatment plants that transport and treat about half the wastewater in Los Angeles County. The Sanitation Districts' comprehensive solid waste management system currently provides about one-fourth of the countywide solid waste disposal needs through the operation of two sanitarylandfills, three landfill energy recovery facilities, three materials recovery/transfer facilities, and two refuse-to-energy facilities. The Sanitation Districts do not pick up or collect trash from homes or businesses.

The agency also helps sponsor the Household Hazardous Waste and Electronic Waste Collection Program, which gives Los Angeles County residents a legal and cost-free way to dispose of unwanted household chemicals and electronic waste that cannot be put into the regular trash.

The Sanitation Districts are innovators in the production of green energy and water recycling. Approximately 120 megawatts of electricity, enough to supply the needs of about 160,000 homes, are created in the Sanitation Districts’ wastewater and solid waste operations. Water reclamation plants produce 165 milllion gallons per day of recycled water that can be safely used for irrigation and other uses to replace the water used by over 400,000 Southern California families.