Most of us don’t give more than a moment’s thought to what happens to the water we’ve used after we turn on the clothes washer or flush the toilet. One of the wonders of the modern world is how we are able to safely and inexpensively handle and treat our wastewater. A large system of wastewater pipes connects all the homes and businesses in Dunsmuir north of the Park to this “Wastewater Pump Lift Station”. Here that wastewater is lifted over the Sacramento River and delivered safely into the main wastewater pipes of central Dunsmuir.

All of Dunsmuir’s wastewater winds up in a wastewater treatment plant owned by the City of Dunsmuir located in the south part of town. There the wastewater is hygienically treated and safe drinking water is returned to the Sacramento River. The wastewater pipes from north Dunsmuir used to run under the river, however, after a major flood washed out those pipes, this current system of pumping the wastewater in a pipe over the river was adopted.