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Prescott staff outline roadmap to centralize wastewater treatment after 2023 overflows
Summary
Public works and utilities staff described a multi-project plan to consolidate two treatment plants into a single airport facility, citing 2023 storm-driven overflows and an ADEQ consent order as drivers; council asked for Prop 401 analysis and SR-89 alternatives on Feb. 10.
City public-works officials on Jan. 27 reviewed the "roadmap to centralization" that would combine the Sundog and Airport wastewater facilities into a single airport-based plant, a multi-year program staff said is needed in part to address capacity failures highlighted by storms in early 2023.
Public Works Director Gwen Rohich said centralization was adopted by council resolution 42 84 in April 2015 and that the work has proceeded in phases funded in part by a WIFA loan approved by ordinance in 2018. Sundog was built in 1955 and currently produces class B+ effluent with a treatment capacity staff gave as about "3,000,000 gallons per day." The airport water-reclamation facility, expanded in recent years, has about "4,750,000 gallons per day" capacity. Staff said, when centralization is complete, the single airport plant will be approximately 8,000,000 gpd.
Tim Sherwood, capital project manager, reviewed completed projects (airport trunk main phases and the Sundog lift station) built between 2017 and 2022 at a reported cost of $26.5 million, and enumerated remaining projects including Sundog Phase C3, an airport solids-handling facility, SR-89 effluent pipelines and a Watson Lake Park effluent tank.
Rohich told council that a series of storms between January and March 2023 caused sewer surges and raw sewage releases to Granite Creek, which produced a notice of violation and a consent order from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. Staff said centralization projects are part of the corrective program and will increase treatment and surge capacity.
Several council members asked whether the overall program could trigger Prop 401 (voter approval threshold for very large projects). City legal counsel described the analysis as nuanced, noting many components (repair/replacement, work ordered by a consent decree) can be exempt and said the city "believes we're in compliance with Prop 401" but will provide a more detailed analysis to council.
Council was told staff will return to present five alternatives for the SR-89 roadway portion of the centralization alignment on Feb. 10 and that remaining project schedules and budgets will be refined in the CIP. The session was informational; no action was taken.
