The Town of Marana, Ariz., received about $1.5 million from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to design and construct a new lift station and force main to pump sewage into a municipal sewer system.
According to The Explorer Newspaper, the mayor and council unanimously voted to take over the neighborhood’s privately-owned wastewater system and build new infrastructure, but final approval of the funds from the state government came in last month. The state has now been given the green light and construction can begin this year.
Officials in Marana are in the final stage of design and the project should be starting soon, according to Town Manager Jamsheed Mehta. However, there is not an exact time frame.
The sewage is stored in treatment lagoons and is at risk of overflowing, according to The Explorer Newspaper. According to the town’s press release, such an occurrence could cause an environmental and health hazard.
The sewage from Adonis will be pumped from the lagoons to the sewer collection in the San Lucas neighborhood nearby, according to The Explorer Newspaper. The sewage will be treated at the Marana Water Reclamation Facility and the town can reuse the water in a variety of ways.
The money for the project is part of $11 million dispersed by the CWSRF to several municipalities in Arizona. According to The Explorer Newspaper, about 80% of these funds come from the Environmental Protection Agency and the states that receive the money kick in the other 20%.
In Marana, there are 142 homes in the area that bring in around 20,000 to 25,000 gal of sewer water a day, which is the maximum that the system is able to take.
“They had a very old system that was in place before they were even part of the Town of Marana,” Mehta said to The Explorer Newspaper. “When we took it over some months ago it was decided that we would not be in any position to maintain the existing lagoons which is why now we are undertaking this design to connect sewage flows from the Adonis neighborhood to the closest available sanitary sewer site in northern Marana.”