Local opinion: Pond project is a big, wasteful step into the past

and analysis of the writer:

On April 16, the Oro Valley Town Council heard arguments pro and con for rebuilding the old golf course pond located in the new Vistoso Trails Nature Preserve. This derelict pond, once the water reservoir for the golf course irrigation system, has been left abandoned since the golf course went bankrupt. Some residents have loudly advocated for rebuilding the pond, no matter the cost, since they miss the “picturesque setting for wedding pictures” and other nostalgic reasons.

Sadly, times have changed since that old pond existed, and the decision reached by the majority of the Town Council represents a huge, expensive and backward step for our regional water sustainability. The projected cost to rebuild this pond is an eye-watering $2 million, not including the additional monies that will be required to fill and maintain the pond with water, guard the pond against vandals, and ensure that pollutants in reclaimed water do not contaminate our groundwater. The pond will continuously lose water because of evaporation and will require constant refilling. And it will serve no practical purpose other than to “look pretty” for some residents.

The initial plan is to fill the pond with reclaimed wastewater, commonly used to irrigate golf courses and public park turf. However, this pond if built, will technically be a “captive wastewater pond” and will allow pollutants such as PFAS to build up in concentration as water evaporates. Eventually, these pollutants may build up to such a hazardous level that the Town of Oro Valley will have to pay expensive remediation charges to dispose of the residue to prevent its escape into the environment. This cost has not been predicted nor budgeted by the Council.

The only alternative to using reclaimed sewage is to continuously fill the pond with potable water. As many know, the State of Arizona presently faces a severe drought, with the Colorado River in a Tier 1 water shortage; This means Arizona will receive 512,000 acre-feet less water than its typical allotment. This reduction represents 30% of the Central Arizona Project (CAP)’s normal supply.

During the meeting, the Council actually discussed purchasing Indian tribal water rights to maintain this pond since Oro Valley may not have sufficient water inventory. Clearly, this is not the time to be wasteful with our water resources to support such a vanity project.

At a time when the City of Tucson is considering “sewer to tap” advanced water treatment and recycling, I sincerely hope that the Town Council revisits this disastrous decision. $2 million could be better used to revegetate the 202-acre Vistoso Trail Nature Preserve with keystone plant species such as desert ironwood, native plants that attract pollinators, and remediate the many invasive species we see taking hold.

Mayor Winfield has supported an alternative to this pond, namely a “desert garden” that would conserve water and serve as an educational tool and recreation center for our community. If you wish to visit a nicely designed desert garden, please visit the City of Tucson’s remarkable “Pima Prickly Park.”

This would be a much better alternative for our town than a pond filled with filtered, polluted sewage, and it would probably make for better wedding pictures.