Raw sewage spill irks Pinal residents

Over the past several months, pump failures at a Johnson Utilities water reclamation plant have caused thousands of gallons of raw sewage to flow into Queen Creek Wash, leaving residents of a nearby Pinal County neighborhood worried about their health and safety.

Arizona Department of Environmental Quality records show a sewer overflow incident at the plant in December. This past weekend, residents of Pecan Creek lodged complaints with state agencies, saying they saw raw sewage on Saturday bubbling up from manhole covers in the neighborhood, oozing into their community's streets and the Queen Creek Wash.

ADEQ spokesman Mark Shaffer said his agency is investigating and had staff in the area Tuesday morning to take samples from the wash.

"We're concerned about the water quality and human health," he said.

Shaffer said they will issue an inspection report in 30 days, and water quality data won't be available for several weeks.

Pecan Creek resident Brian McNamara said his 7-year-old son was the first to spot sewage sputtering from the manhole cover three doors from their home. He said he called Johnson Utilities at 7 p.m. Saturday. The company responded a couple of hours later; the sewage seepage stopped for a period but was bubbling up again Sunday morning, he said.

"It was brutal, the stench," McNamara said. "The odor was so foul I had to put my shirt up over my nose."

Johnson Utilities Vice President Brian Tompsett said Saturday's incident was caused by debris building up, causing a pump to malfunction. He confirmed that raw sewage was released into the neighborhood's spillway, which connects to Queen Creek Wash.

"This particular subdivision seems to be having more problems with this than others," Tompsett said, noting that Saturday's backup was caused by wire, towels and even a mop head clogging the system - not things that could normally be flushed down a toilet.

Tompsett said the problem in December was also caused by debris backing up. The company plans to do some community education.

McNamara said his main concern is safety and wants to be assured that the problem was treated properly

"I just want our neighborhood to be safe," McNamara said. "I want to make sure things are restored properly. This is happening inside of our community boundaries, and that's what's most disconcerting to me."

Tompsett said the company cleaned up the sewage, which he said was mainly caught in a drain at the end of the spillway, and treated the area with chlorine. He also said that some safety measures have been put in place at the plant since December.

"We've put in a backup pump system, and we have personnel at that site 24 hours a day," he said. "We're doing everything in our power to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Arizona Corporation Commissioner Jeff Hatch-Miller said his agency is also investigating the incident and said having raw sewage coming out of neighborhood pipes is "never acceptable."

"Unsuspecting citizens should never have to deal with raw sewage in their backyard," he said. "I can completely empathize with the shock and alarm of the citizens in the area."

Hatch-Miller said the ACC will pursue enforcement action on Johnson Utilities if necessary and wants to see measures in place to safeguard against another occurrence of sewage spillover.

ADEQ documents show that Johnson Utilities' Pecan Water Reclamation Plant, located on Ganzel Road, had a sanitary sewer overflow incident in December, when an estimated 5,000 gallons of untreated sewage flowed into Queen Creek through a manhole in a spillway in the Pecan Creek area.

The notice of violation issued by ADEQ on March 4 shows Johnson Utilities violated two state laws in December with the spill of about 5,000 gallons of untreated sewage into Queen Creek. Those violations were adding pollutants to navigable waters without a permit and failing to notify ADEQ of a spill within 24 hours.

ADEQ officials estimate the amount of sewage at 5,000 gallons, based on the flow of about 30 gallons per minute for about 2 1/2 hours, and the report said it took Johnson Utilities nine days to report the incident.

The ADEQ spill inspection memo dated Feb. 11 said that Johnson Utilities responded quickly to the December spill but noted that the lack of alarm notification software to alert people to a pump failure "appeared to aggravate the size of the spill."

Pecan Creek resident Chrys Meadows lives across from the wash and said the smell coming from it makes it difficult for her to enjoy her property.

"There's days when it's absolutely disgusting. There's days when I can't smell it at all," she said. "I've lived here for three years, and Johnson Utilities doesn't seem to be getting a whole lot better with the smells and the issues we are having."

Residents say people walk, ride ATVs and spend time in the wash, but are concerned about the health issues associated with sewage being dumped there. Many residents say they won't spend time in the wash, some calling it a "huge petri dish."

Pinal County's environmental health director, Reg Glos, said there are health concerns anytime there's raw sewage exposure. He said sewage can contain E. coli, hepatitis and a number of other illnesses that people could be exposed to.

The East Valley Tribune is involved in a lawsuit with Johnson Utilities over the release of public records - a Florence taxpayer-funded due diligence study that looked at the viability of the water and wastewater system. Florence considered buying the company but ended negotiations earlier this year.