Water Resources Collections and Archives

This research investigates how a new channel may be designed and integrated to improve the capacity and community connectivity of wastewater treatment wetlands at the Stockton Regional Water Control Facility. It is becoming more common for treatment facilities to integrate natural techniques into the conventional treatment processes. Currently, the wetlands at Stockton are used as one stage in the water treatment process. They are fed by pipeline which conveys the water from the previous treatment stage, the facultative algal ponds, to the west edge of the wetlands. The primary function of the wetlands is to provide treatment for suspended organic solids and nutrients. The current pipeline provides no treatment to the water and is only used to convey the water. As described by Greg White, manager at the facility, it is also their goal to build an educational path and platform system, which will allow visitors to experience the wetlands. By replacing the existing pipeline with a channel, the goals of this investigation are to provide additional water treatment capacity in the channel itself and to integrate educational and recreational spaces for the community. As a designer, this research has allowed me to approach the design for a new channel at the Stockton Regional Water Control Facility in a comprehensive and scientific way. I developed a design process comprised of both quantitative and qualitative evaluations and decisions. In this way, I satisfied hydraulic principles and equations while accomplishing landscape design goals.