Arizona Water Company briefs Sedona council on tank operations, PFAS monitoring and conservation-linked supply plan

Arizona Water Company and its consultants gave the Sedona City Council an annual update that ranged from operational details at the new East Sedona tank to a national regulatory timeline for PFAS, and presented revised groundwater demand projections and model scenarios that show conservation and treated effluent reuse materially reduce long-term aquifer drawdown.

The company said the East Sedona tank put into service this year is performing as intended and that recent high-flow testing activated site alarms because the system had not previously seen that volume. "The site's working just as it was designed," a company representative said, and clarified that the small building next to the tank contains pumps, valves and electrical equipment rather than being ornamental.

Environmental Compliance Manager Ryan Cavalier explained PFAS risk, monitoring and the compliance timetable adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "PFAS are a family of chemicals, often called forever chemicals because they end up in the environment," Cavalier said. He said EPA has set maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for PFOA and PFOS at 4 parts per trillion and that the industry is preparing both for an initial monitoring period starting in 2027 and for the compliance phase that could require treatment or new sources by the end of the decade, though the final dates remain subject to federal rulemaking and litigation.

Cavalier said Arizona Water Company is completing pre-monitoring at well sites this year and plans the required distribution-point sampling (point-of-entry to…