The year 2017 is looking to be full of activity for Marana Water. In recognition of all our great customers, and our new ones that are coming every day, we are excited to share with you a few of the tremendous investments and actions in which your water department is engaged.
As we continue to develop from a small community of several distinct water systems and into a large municipal water and wastewater provider, it will be all about the infrastructure. In order to accomplish this, we have a number of ongoing projects.
The San Lucas interconnect is the replacement of an aged 6-inch pipeline that is currently under I-10 between the San Lucas, Marana Estates, and Adonis neighborhoods and the rest of the water system on the westside of I-10. We are replacing this water main with a 16-inch pipeline. That increases the carrying capacity by seven times! Once completed, the north Marana system and the San Lucas area water systems will be able to efficiently move water back and forth as one integrated system. This helps ensure reliability and redundancy for all our customers in the area.
Similar reliability and redundancy projects are also occurring in the southern Marana Water systems. If you drive north on Twin Peaks road, near Blue Bonnet road, a brand new, one-million-gallon steel reservoir will be rising. Most of this reservoir is being funded and constructed by Vintage Partners, the developer of the Marana Center mall complex as part of their development agreement. The other portion will be funded by the water department. This reservoir will provide not only the mall area, but all customers in the area with much needed gravity storage to keep pressure in the water system during times of power loss. In addition, this reservoir will move the department ‘further up the hill’ towards the Dove Mountain area. There are great projects scheduled for construction along Twin Peaks Road and this reservoir will allow the water to be there.
The largest project that the department is engaged in this year is the expansion of the Marana Water Reclamation Facility near Luckett Road. The current wastewater plant that was acquired with the settlement with Pima County is nearing its capacity. The new facility under construction will be able to treat and purify up to 1.5 million gallons of wastewater per day. Our current rate is around 400,000 gallons per day. In conjunction with this facility upgrade is the development of the Marana Water Groundwater Recharge Facility. This facility is necessary for all water customers because it will take the purified wastewater from the treatment plant next door and allow the clean water to infiltrate back into the aquifer for much needed water resource credits. The recharge facility is designed to eventually be a multi-purpose recreational area operated jointly with the Parks and Recreation Department. The town is planning to make this feature open to the public for wildlife viewing and passive enjoyment with walking paths and scenic viewing areas of the surrounding lands.
These are only a few of the ongoing projects that we have this year. Behind all of these projects is a dedicated staff who are committed to providing excellent service across the community. The projects and decisions we are making today are in support of our total water and water reclamation plans for the future. Our objective in all our efforts is to integrate Marana Water’s activities to provide the best possible customer experience for Marana residents. Supporting the needs of customers today and tomorrow is always in our mission.
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