World War II was still raging in 1942 when Goleta Sanitary District was formed to serve the rural agricultural area called Goleta. Only 1,500 people lived within the District. In those years, sewage wastes were disposed of through individual cesspools and septic tanks. Some farsighted citizens recognized that the community could not grow under those limiting conditions.

Building A Sanitary System With the ending of World War II, the fledgling District applied to the Navy Department to connect its sewer lines to the Marine Air Base, located on the site of today's Municipal Airport. Plans were drawn to build a sewer system and treatment plant. In July 1951, the new plant was opened for the first time to an enthusiastic community.

Rapid Growth Requires New Facilities By 1965, rapid growth in the Goleta Valley led to construction of the District's mile-long ocean outfall pipeline and an expansion of the treatment plant. Now serving 25 times the number of people it served when it was founded, Goleta Sanitary District has enlarged and improved its treatment system once again to meet the latest requirements.

Today the treatment facilities are utilized by four public agencies: Goleta West Sanitary District, University of California at Santa Barbara, City of Santa Barbara Municipal Airport, and certain facilities of Santa Barbara County.