Wastewater Master Plan 

City of La Verne

 Founded in 1906, the City of La Verne is in Los Angeles County in California, United States. The community prides itself on its “close-knit” and “small-town” feel. The population has grown to 33,084 people. With these changes comes the need to check the condition of the current infrastructure and gauge which areas there needs to be immediate or future improvements. Civiltec is active in these types of projects, for example completing the 2020 Water Master Plan for La Verne as well as all updates associated with it.

Recently, our team completed the updated Wastewater Master Plan for La Verne in 2023. The previous Wastewater Master Plan was completed by RKA Consulting Group in 2007, identifying many improvements to accommodate the projected growth. La Verne operates and maintains more than 100 miles of sewer lines, two wastewater lift stations, a brine line, and several ancillary facilities providing service to approximately 8,667 lateral connections consisting of 12,741 sewer units.  In addition to these public facilities, there are several private community lift stations, force mains, and gravity sewers throughout the service territory that ultimately discharge into the City’s wastewater collection system. From the 2007 report to now, due to fiscal constraints some improvements have yet to be implemented, and the City has seen significant growth, new infrastructure improvements, policy changes for higher-density land use, and the relocation of pipes and flows. These factors have made it imperative to develop a sewer model determining the system’s hydraulic capacities, structural conditions, and needed capital improvements for both immediate and 2040 build-out requirements. Our team also assessed the risk imposed by the limited pipe crossings of the 210 freeways and railroads that bisect the City and master planned the system to meet the ultimate build-out conditions. The overall areas we reviewed were specific areas serving portions of the City of San Dimas, the City of Pomona, and unincorporated Los Angeles County that discharge into the City’s collection system. The original sewer system was designed in 1924 and much of the original system is still in operation around Wheeler Avenue and I Street as well as Seventh Street and Walnut Avenue.

David Byrum led our team as Project Manager, assisted by Gretel Ochoa-Nhac, PE as Deputy Project Manager as they collected, reviewed, and analyzed data from the City as well as conducted our research and collection. This included flow monitoring, creation of a new sewer model that evaluated the current and future wastewater flow conditions, analyzing the sewer collection current and future contentions, updating and developing relevant system maps, listing necessary improvements, and developing a capital improvement plan. The purpose of a capital improvement plan is to clearly prioritize and identify costs associated with recommended improvements. Updating the recommendations, including justification and cost associated with the projects from 2007 as well as highlighting new system needs will serve as a best practice for La Verne’s future infrastructure planning. With this new plan, La Verne can enjoy the ease of planning for implementation improvements and gain necessary funding to ensure their system’s continuous reliable, and sustainable service. Timothy Kwan, PE was a very influential member of the team helping to compile the Wastewater Master Plan.

This project gave way to a new opportunity. Our same team also recently completed 2025 La Verne’s Sanitary Sewer Management Plan. Gretel and her team assured that the Plan complied with Order WQ 2022-0103-DWQ Statewide Waste Discharge Requirements General Order for Sanitary Sewer Systems. Special shout out to our Engineering Intern Zoie Nunez, EIT for helping assure the quality and compliance of the Sanity Sewer Management Plan. We are thrilled to continue our 30-year relationship with La Verne to assist in their goals of ensuring safe and reliable drinking water, encouraging public engagement, and ensuring new development pays its fair share for its impact on City water and sewer infrastructure.