Marana Water Department had a role in two projects that earned a Metropolitan Pima Alliance Common Ground Awards. The awards honor community leaders, real estate projects, and economic development oriented programs that overcame great obstacles through unlikely and atypical collaboration.
Marana Water was involved in the Northwest Recharge, Recovery, and Delivery System (NWRRDS) and the Arizona Pure Water Brew Challenge.
For 2017, the MPA received a list of over 50 projects, whittled them down to a top-20 and then gave awards for the top-10 projects.
The Northwest Recharge, Recovery, and Delivery System is an agreement betwen Town of Marana, Oro Valley, and Metro Water to move stored Central Arizona Project water from northern Avra Valley near the Marana Airport to the northside of the Tucson basin. This will help to reduce groundwater withdrawals and allow the north area of the Tucson Basin aquifer to recover from decades of native groundwater pumping
“As local water providers and local water users, maintaining and keeping a healthy aquifer system in the Tucson Basin and the Avra Valley sub-basin is critical not only to our current operations but to our future operations for the community as a whole,” said Marana Water Director John Kmiec.
The NWRRDS will lead to the construction of a groundwater withdrawal well field, a large diameter pipeline and a two-million gallon capacity reservoir. From that reservoir, each water provider will move their water to their respective service areas.
The project will be completed in 2025. Metro Water, the lead agency, began property acquisition in 2015 and that will continue until approximately 2018 when the design phase will begin. Construction is likely to begin in 2022.
The Arizona Pure Water Brew Challenge was the 2017 Water Innovation Challenge project, whose goal is to increase public awareness about water quality and the potential for potable reuse in augmenting local water supplies. The team consisted of Marana Water, Pima County Wastewater, Tucson Water, the University of Arizona, Arizona Community Foundation, CH2M, and Carollo Engineering.
With a prize of over $300,000 and several hundred thousand more in resources and In-kind support, the team changed state rule that at the time prohibited direct potable reuse, designed and built an advanced water purification treatment plant in a semi-trailer, and verified the purity of the water. All in less than eight months! They partnered with local brewers across the state to make beer using recycled wastewater. The hope was that by producing great tasting beer, will launch a statewide discussion on water reuse and help change the public’s perception on the concept of purifying recycled wastewater to produce safe, high-quality drinking water.
Dragoon Brewing Company in Tucson had the winning beer with their Clear Water Pilsner. Tucson’s Crooked Tooth Brewing Company’s Tamarind Sour Brown won the People’s Choice Award, while Gilbert’s Arizona Wilderness Brewing Company was the runner up. 26 brewing companies from 12 municipalities competed in the contest.
