Sewage spills spur Q.C. drinking water worry

Queen Creek residents and officials downstream from recent sewage spills in Pinal County are concerned about impacts on the town's drinking water.

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and the Arizona Corporation Commission are investigating two May spills that discharged more than 10,000 gallons of raw sewage into Queen Creek Wash from Johnson Utilities' Pecan Water Reclamation Plant near Ironwood Drive and Chandler Heights Road.

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State records show a history of spills at the same facility.

A DEQ notice of violation issued to the utility this month shows that employees did not notify the state agency within 24 hours of the spill, notes high levels of E. coli and fecal coliform in the wash water and requires the company to upgrade two pumps because the plant was not built to state-approved capacity.

Company vice president Brian Tompsett said smaller pumps have been replaced with larger ones and E.coli levels are subsiding a month after the spills.

Queen Creek Town Manager John Kross said they are doing all they can to ensure the town's water supply is safe. He said water department employees go "above and beyond" state requirements when it comes to testing the town's drinking water by doing a minimum of 30 tests each month.

"We are very, very protective over the water supply for this community because well over 90 percent of drinkable water for this community comes from groundwater and wells," Kross said. "Any kind of upstream spill or environmental issue - anything remotely close to our aquifer raises serious red flags for us."

In a letter to the DEQ, water director Paul Gardner said the town is concerned about how long it took Johnson Utilities employees to report the spills and that water samples were not taken for days after the spill. Since the town "relies on groundwater for all its potable needs we feel it is imperative that there are zero discharges into the Queen Creek Wash or the Aquifer that does not meet EPA standards on discharges."

Town officials call for "zero tolerance" by the DEQ on any discharges that don't meet federal standards.

"At the end of the day there may be no impact to the Queen Creek water system, but we want to make sure all analysis is taking place to make sure there is no impact," Kross said. "Aquifers are quite large and they don't end at our town limits so it's potentially a concern."

If any issues arise during testing, Kross said the town will immediately respond and report the issue.

Gardner said a sewage spill could cause more of a long-term impact than an immediate one, but layers of clay in the ground also help filter impurities from water making its way into the aquifer.

"In a 30-year time frame, what happens upstream will affect what's happening down stream," Gardner said. "We're downstream from this stuff. When you have spills like this, you want to make sure it happens once in a great while and it doesn't become the norm."

Johnson Utilities, which serves about 20,000 people in unincorporated Pinal County, does not have any customers within Queen Creek's boundary. Queen Creek's current general plan places the plant and adjacent neighborhood as located in the town's planning area, but the updated general plan up for voter approval in September pushes the boundary back to the west side of Ironwood.

Kross said that change was made because the area is primarily residential with no opportunity for the town to have input on development. He said there is no intention to annex the area.