Latitude & Longitude:
34" 14'5", -118" 56'11"
34.2349, -118.9366

Located at:
9600 Santa Rosa Road
Camarillo, CA  93012

A Brief History
As recently as the late 1950s, a centralized wastewater treatment facility did not exist in the Conejo Valley. Yet, the need for such a facility was acute, as the use of septic tanks, the most common method of waste disposal, was unable to meet the needs of the rapidly growing community. Because of this, the Conejo Valley Sanitary Company, a subsidiary of the Janss Corporation, constructed a small treatment plant in 1961. The City of Thousand Oaks was incorporated in 1964. With new housing and business developments, waste disposal continued to be a major problem. So much so, that in 1965, the City Council resolved that the “proper disposal of sewage is the most urgent problem facing the Conejo Valley,” and called for the establishment of a “municipal sanitation system at the earliest possible time.”

That time came on July 1, 1966, when backed by a voter-approved bond issue, the City of Thousand Oaks purchased the Conejo Valley Sanitary Company and with it, the Hill Canyon Wastewater Treatment Plant. This facility provides treatment for wastewater from about 90 percent of the City. Wastewater generated in the Westlake portion of the City is collected and treated by the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District. Both treatment plants operate under National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits.

The City’s Public Works Department, Wastewater Division, is responsible for the planning, administration, operation, and maintenance of the wastewater collection and interceptor systems, as well as the Hill Canyon Wastewater Treatment Plant. Structured as an enterprise function of the City, revenues for the Division’s activities are funded by existing and new system users through service and connection charges.

HCTP is a 14 million gallon a day capacity advanced tertiary wastewater treatment plant. Hill Canyon Wastewater Treatment Plant currently treats an average of 11.0 million gallons of wastewater per day generated from its domestic, commercial, and industrial customers. By the time it is discharged to the creek, it is treated to an advanced tertiary level that complies with a wide variety of operational permits - low in nitrogen and crystal clear in appearance. This treatment includes screening, grit removal, clarification, nutrient removal, secondary clarification, multi-media filtering, disinfection, and dechlorination. The effluent’s crystal clear appearance is very similar to that of high quality potable water. This effort is unrelenting, and the positive environmental results can be viewed all along the Calleguas Creek.

The City has spent over $70,000,000 in the last decade upgrading its wastewater treatment systems to meet stringent standards.  HCTP has won the prestigious National Association of Clean Water Agencies Gold Peak Performance Award in 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2009 for registering no discharge permit violations during those years.