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Casa Grande authorizes city manager to negotiate effluent purchase agreement with Cactus 110 LLC
Summary
Council authorized the city manager to negotiate an agreement to provide up to 1,300 acre-feet per year of treated effluent to Cactus 110 LLC for proposed copper-mining operations; staff said the company would construct delivery infrastructure at its own expense and the agreement will return to council for approval.
The City Council on Jan. 13 authorized the city manager to negotiate an effluent purchase agreement with Cactus 110 LLC (a subsidiary of Arizona Sonoran Copper Company) that could deliver up to 1,300 acre-feet of treated wastewater per year for use in mining operations and dust control.
Staff presentation: Larry (staff) and other city staff provided a history of the Cactus (Sacaton) mine site, summarized the company's feasibility timeline and said the company has permits to pump groundwater but seeks to demonstrate water stewardship by using treated effluent. Staff said Cactus 110 has tested the city's treated effluent and completed initial engineering showing a gravity-fed delivery may be feasible from the city's discharge point to the mine site.
Rationale and modeling: staff noted the city processes roughly 6,300 acre-feet at the water reclamation facility and currently delivers about 4,300 acre-feet to managed recharge facilities, generating roughly 2,000 acre-feet of long-term storage credits annually. Staff told council that an estimated 1,300 acre-feet of effluent had previously been uncredited when it discharged to the Santa Cruz Wash and that providing that effluent for direct use could preserve groundwater and optimize credit generation.
Council action: after discussion and clarification that any final agreement would return to the mayor and council for review and approval, council voted to authorize the city manager to negotiate the agreement in good faith so the company could complete feasibility work. The motion passed by voice vote.
What council emphasized: Multiple council members said any agreement would be subject to rigorous review to protect the city’s interests, including safeguards on the use of effluent and infrastructure obligations; staff and legal counsel said they would include protections and that the city would retain final approval authority.
Next steps: Staff will continue negotiating terms with Cactus 110; a completed draft agreement will come back to council for consideration and formal approval.
