Upgrade to cut sewer smell

That's good news to folks who live downwind of the plant, about a mile west of the intersection of South Houghton and East Sahuarita roads, on the north side of Sahuarita Road.

But some are dubious, like Charles Skiles, who lives about three-quarters of a mile northeast of the facility .

"I'm not confident it will improve things," said Skiles, who lives in the 900 block of North Avenida del Caballero. "I have been fighting with these people for 15 years. I don't think they're going to do anything about it.

"Sometimes in the evening, with the winds coming out of the southwest, you can't even sit outside, the smell's so bad," he said. "That's when it's worst."

Paul Bennett, in charge of planning and engineering for the county Wastewater Management Department, said the upgrade will relieve most of the problem.

"It won't eliminate all odors, but the majority of odors will be gone when this is done," Bennett said.

New equipment to be installed during the upgrade includes large tanks with chambers that will keep sewage contained until bacteria break down most of the material in the water, he said.

Much of that process now takes place in large ponds around the wastewater-treatment plant, Bennett said.

"This will be much more controlled than the old process," he said.

Laura Fairbanks, a Wastewater Department spokeswoman, said much of the odor is created by rapid evaporation of water in the old ponds.

"As water evaporates, the solids are left behind," she said. "That's what causes the smell."

The wastewater plant has been processing increasingly larger flows of sewage in recent years because of rapid growth around Corona de Tucson, Fairbanks said.

When the upgrade is completed around the end of the year, the plant will be able to process 1 million gallons a day, up from 300,000 a day. That should be enough capacity for the next several years, she said.

Bennett said the new system will eliminate the need for the old ponds, but they may be used as backup during maintenance or in case of equipment failure. The wastewater will be further cleaned and sanitized before it is dumped into new ponds that will be excavated to allow the treated water to slowly seep into the ground and percolate into the aquifer nearly 500 feet underground, he said.

The county has no plans to use the water for anything other than replenishing the area's groundwater, he said, but "it'll be high enough quality to be used for irrigation."

The county might make the water available to local customers willing to install pipes to transport it, Bennett said.

Anne Perrin, another Corona resident, said she'd like to see that water used to irrigate the Santa Rita Golf Course instead of well water.

"We're all concerned about the water situation out here. We're all trying to beat the peak, and all that stuff," she said, referring to a Tucson Water water-conservation campaign held every year during peak water-use season.

Frank Brown, general manager of the Santa Rita Golf Club, said the owners of the course, The Stanley Group, are talking with county officials about the idea.

"We're looking into that," he said. "We would like to do that."

Learn more

● The Corona de Tucson waste-water-treatment plant is one of eight small facilities around Pima County operated by the county Wastewater Management Department, along with three larger plants.

● To find out more about the department or to report problems, contact Laura Fairbanks, the department's community relations specialist, at 740-6532 or at laura.fairbanks @www.pima.gov.

● Fairbanks said residents should report suspected acts of vandalism on the wastewater system by calling 911.