This department is responsible for processing all financial transactions, maintaining district records, internal auditing, and production of financial reports. Preparation of annual rate model and annual budget plus monitoring after their adoption by the Board of Directors resides with this department.

For assistance please contact Jim Grover, Principal Accountant at (831) 624-1248 or grover@cawd.org.

How Does CAWD Set Sewer Rates?

CAWD’s rate model was devised by the State Water Resources Control Board. It allocates costs based on flow, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and suspended solids.

Flow is the amount of liquid wastewater – at CAWD this is about 1.7 million gallons each day. A large cost of flow is for energy needed to pump the water to the headworks where it then gravity feeds through the rest of the plant during treatment.

Suspended Solids are the particles of matter left in wastewater after heavier solids have settled out. When wastewater enters the plant it is screened at the headworks to remove large debris – this goes to the landfill. Then the water goes to a clarifier where larger particles settle to the bottom. This sludge gets pumped to a digester that turns it into compost. The remaining particles in the water are the suspended solids that must be consumed by the billions of microorganisms we propagate to clean our wastewater.

Biochemical Oxygen Demand is the amount of oxygen consumed by the plant’s microorganism while they do their work. The more concentrated the wastewater, the more oxygen we need to support the microbes. More oxygen means more cost to run the large blowers which aerate the water in our secondary treatment tanks, which are like giant aquariums of microscopic animals.