Opinion

Marana should forget risky sewer plant idea

Our view: A regional approach with Tucson and outlying communities would better serve everyone's best interest

Arizona Daily Star, Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.24.2007

In the latest round in the bureaucratic struggle between Marana and Pima County over a small sewer treatment plant and the effluent it produces, the small but booming town is exploring the possibility of building its own plant, possibly in Pinal County.

Marana should pay attention to what's happening in Sahuarita, another booming town south of Tucson. Going it alone isn't always best. Marana wants the effluent produced from the wastewater treatment plant that sits just outside town limits, near North Luckett and West Trico-Marana roads.

Town officials say Marana needs the effluent to offset groundwater pumping and prove it has a renewable water supply to support heavy growth in the town northwest of Tucson.

Marana anticipates that in 75 to 100 years, it will need about 30,000 acre feet to support a buildout of 65,000 homes and 25,000 equivalent demand units — a calculation based on what a typical house uses — to serve commercial and industrial users, according to Marana town attorney Frank Cassidy.

The town has Central Arizona Project contracts for 1,528 acre-feet of water a year. Marana recently withdrew from an intergovernmental agreement with the county and wants to annex the plant site — which Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry has asked the Board of Supervisors to designate a park to block the annexation.

He said the county will oppose any plan that would give Marana its own treatment plant in the Pima Association of Governments' regional water system planning process.

Sahuarita runs its own wastewater treatment plant and is living with its failure to plan for growth. The plant can handle 490,000 gallons of wastewater per day and the town is expanding it by another 200,000 gallons in work that is expected to be completed this fall. The ultimate plan is to increase capacity to 1.5 million gallons in 2009.

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality in June ordered Pima County to stop approving new permits issued by the town to hook up to the Sahuarita wastewater system until the plant can handle more capacity. In the meantime, Sahuarita plans to haul sewage south to the Pima County wastewater treatment plant in Green Valley.

In Tucson or the county systems, expansion costs are spread out over a much broader customer base. In a small system, fewer users are on the hook for the bills. Sahuarita's Town Council took the first step in increasing sewer connection fees earlier this month when it initially approved raising the price by an average of nearly 26 percent for an average home valued at $200,000, according to a story by the Star's Tim Ellis.

The town will hold a public hearing and vote on the proposal Aug. 27.

Marana Town Manager Mike Reuwsaat told Star reporter Erica Meltzer that his town needs to lock down as much effluent as possible to avoid having to buy water from another source. Growth is expensive and water is only getting pricier. Marana, at least, seems to be looking far into the future, but that doesn't mean that building its own plant is the best way to go, especially if the plant is located in a different county.

A regional approach to wastewater treatment, effluent allocation and growth is best for Tucson and surrounding communities.

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