Goodyear approves $9.2 million share of contract to send brine to Palo Verde for cooling use

Goodyear City Council on March 3 approved an engineering, procurement and construction agreement that will allow the city to deliver brine — the concentrated byproduct from reverse-osmosis water treatment — to the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station for use in its cooling system. The council approved the agreement and related authorizations by a 7-0 vote.

The agreement, described to council by Barbara Chappell, Goodyear’s Water Services Director, covers final procurement of equipment and construction of improvements at Palo Verde that will accept the city’s brine. “It’s poor quality water that’s a byproduct of our treatments,” Chappell said. “We pull water out of the ground and it has to be treated to safe drinking water. And through that process, you wind up with a concentrate of the bad stuff that we removed.”

City staff said the two Goodyear reverse-osmosis sites — Site 12 and the Bullard Water Campus — generate a combined average of about 800,000 gallons per day of brine. Discharging that brine to Palo Verde, in partnership with the City of Buckeye and Arizona Public Service (APS), will free capacity at Goodyear’s water reclamation facility and reduce the city’s ongoing disposal costs.

Chappell told the council the city’s estimated share of capital costs for its portion of the Palo Verde improvements is approximately $9,200,000. “We do have the capital program project in the budget and this is within our current budget for the project,” she said. She also said the city is concurrently constructing dedicated pipelines to move the brine from Goodyear facilities to the Palo Verde pipeline.

Councilmembers asked whether the $9.2 million represented new funding; Chappell replied the amount was already included in the approved capital improvement program for the fiscal year. Councilmember Hampton called the project “a win-win” for Palo Verde and Goodyear, noting the arrangement reduces disposal costs while providing cooling water to the plant. Other councilmembers expressed appreciation for the regional partnership with Buckeye and APS.

The formal motion approved by council authorized the procurement and construction agreement with the City of Buckeye and APS and directed staff to execute documents necessary to carry out the agreement. The motion passed 7-0.

The city’s next steps include final procurement and construction at Palo Verde and completing the city’s pipeline work to connect treatment sites to the Palo Verde feed.

Ending: The council closed the item after the vote and moved on to reports and commendations later in the agenda.