Sahuarita residents could soon find themselves literally up "you-know-what" creek and town officials are looking to Pima County for a paddle.
The town's sewage treatment plant could exceed its capacity before an expansion is completed in December. And all that stuff has to go somewhere.
Sahuarita officials have asked Pima County if they could truck sewage to the county's Green Valley Wastewater Treatment Facility, which has plenty of excess capacity.
"Hopefully, we won't even need to do this," said Town Attorney Dan Hochuli. "But we want to be safe. We want a fallback position so if something goes wrong, we've got another way to handle it."
The Sahuarita wastewater plant, which is independent of the county-run wastewater treatment system, can handle 495,000 gallons a day, but it is very close to capacity.
People are also reading…
If it goes over that amount, it would be in violation of state regulations and at risk of fines.
An expansion bringing the plant to 800,000 gallons a day should be complete by December, but that may not be soon enough.
"We've asked county for permission, if necessary, to vault and haul wastewater from our plant to the Green Valley plant," Hochuli said.
The Green Valley plant can handle as much as 4 million gallons a day of sewage, but it averages just 2 million.
The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to go ahead with negotiations. Sahuarita would haul the waste and pay Pima County to treat it.
Some supervisors aren't happy about being asked to make up for what they see as poor planning.
"You have a town with growing pains, and they've come to us to bail them out," said Supervisor Ray Carroll. "It's an unpleasant situation. It should be a high-cost solution."
The motion to proceed with negotiations was made by Supervisor Ramón Valadez, and the vote was unanimous.
Most of Sahuarita lies in Valadez's district, though Carroll represents parts of it.
"There's a very immediate need," Valadez said. "It comes down to serving the needs of the citizens of Pima County."
Valadez said he couldn't comment on Sahuarita's planning process, but delaying building permits may be part of the discussion. Carroll said he wouldn't support an agreement if Sahuarita didn't put a moratorium on building permits.
The county has put a hold on growth in the past to allow sewer capacity to catch up, and in 2005 developers in the Avra Valley area advanced the money for a treatment plant expansion to ensure homes there would have enough sewer capacity.
"This should be a message to them to slow down," Carroll said.
Sahuarita officials said they don't see it that way.
"The issue is not related just to building permits, because flows can increase based on existing connections," Hochuli said.
"Also, if we were going to stop issuing building permits, we'd have to declare a moratorium," he added. "And that doesn't seem fair to Mr. and Mrs. Smith if they want to build a house."
Any agreement will have to be approved by the supervisors and the Town Council.
