SLCSSD#1

As a community grows and prospers, so must its essential services.

Of course, most of these services are highly visible, often altering the landscape. With the dramatic population growth in Salt Lake County, we easily see new streets and highways… new schools… new electrical facilities… new substations for law enforcement and fire protection…new parks and recreational areas.

But there’s one service we don’t see.

It is permanently buried-and yet so essentially vital that all of us use it every single day. We rely on it yet know very little about it.

This review highlights some of the major developments of the Salt Lake City Suburban Sanitary District No. 1. It’s your sewer system. And it has not only coped with the rapid growth but has also become one of the most cost-efficient sanitary facilities in the Rocky Mountain West.

We’re not a household name. But as one of our engineers aptly said, “The successful sewer system is the one that no user ever thinks about.”

Our efficiency and cost savings stem from dedicated employees and innovative equipment. Sewage hasn’t changed much over the years-but technology has!

In previous eras, the maintaining of sewer lines was labor-hard and labor-intensive. Men would enter street manholes and descend into the sewer lines. With steel rods and heavy machinery, they would push the sewage and clean the lines foot by foot, mile by mile. It was time-consuming, laborious and very unglamorous.

Today our District employees seldom enter the manholes. With the use of two Jet Flushing/ Vacuum Cleaning Machines, sewer lines are cleaned with 2,000 pounds water pressure and foreign materials are vacuumed out at manholes allowing sewage to continue on its way to the Central Valley Water Reclamation Facility plant for purification.

In addition, specialized video cameras are used daily to peek into sewer lines, allowing our technicians to spot problem areas (damaged lines, root problems, illegal pumping) before they become a major inconvenience. Since the water can never be turned off in sewer lines, the potential for water and sewage back-up is severe. But technology has turned this reality into rarity. In years past sewage back-up in homes and businesses was a weekly occurrence. Today, with our improved maintenance, we have cut these back-up emergencies to about 1 incident each year.

Of course, there are still emergencies. Some days we receive calls concerning valuable rings and other family-centered items errantly flushed into our system. Since the items are important to you, they are important to us. If called quickly, we usually can readily dispatch a crew to rescue the lost item. It doesn’t happen every day. But we’re available every day for emergency repairs and extraordinary smiles.

Then & NOW

The District was formed in 1946 by the Salt Lake County Commission under state statues as a Special Service District with authority to levy taxes, issue bonds, and construct a sewage collection and treatment system. Since major construction in 1954 the District has operated its own sewage transmission lines and treatment facility until 1978 when the District entered into an Interlocal Agreement with four other special service districts and two cities to create the Central Valley Water Reclamation Facility, a regionalized wastewater treatment facility in which the District owns a 25% undivided interest.

Today the District collects wastewater from a service area with boundaries on the north of approximately 2700 South from the Jordan River east to the mountains and on the South from the Jordan River at about 4100 South east on a diagonal to Highland Drive and 6200 South and then east to the mountains. This service area encompasses parts of unincorporated Salt Lake County, approximately half of the City of South Salt Lake, the City of Holladay, and a small portion of Murray City, thus servicing a population of approximately 160,000 residents. The District owns, operates and maintains 8,360 manholes and 367 miles of sewer collection lines, which convey and deliver wastewater for treatment to the Central Valley Water Reclamation Facility located at 800 West Central Valley Road in the City of South Salt Lake.

Over the years with the move from rural to spot residential to high density housing, we are now one of the largest sanitary districts in the county and the second largest in all of Utah. And yet, despite this expansion, our monthly service charges and our sewer property taxes as well, are among the lowest in Utah.

The future of our District is closely tied with legislative mandates. We are constantly on guard against the illegal dumping of hazardous materials and waste into our lines. In addition, we meet the new stricter rules from the Federal Environmental Protection Agency, the regulations contained in the U.S. Clean Water Act and the standards established by the State of Utah regarding water discharge into the Jordan River.

As we meet these mandates, we’ll also meet your request for quality service in a timely manner.

We’re the service you don’t normally think about. But we’re there every time you wash dishes, flush a toilet or take a shower.

We don’t mind being taken for granted. Like we said, we’re doing our best when you don’t think of us at all.

 CALL if you have a request, a concern or a question; please feel free to call us at (801) 262-2904. We value you as a customer.