10/12/2007 10:03:00 PM City seeks Chino permit for arsenic treatment
By CINDY BARKS The Daily Courier
PRESCOTT - With a federal arsenic-treatment deadline approaching at the end of the year, the City of Prescott recently embarked on what could be a several-months-long permit process with the Town of Chino Valley.
Jim Ciaffoni, deputy public works director for Prescott, reported this week that the city applied to Chino Valley on Sept. 14 for a conditional use permit for the wellhead arsenic treatment equipment that the city plans to install on its six wells in Chino Valley.
Since January 2006, new federal guidelines have been in effect, reducing the acceptable level of arsenic in drinking water from the previous 50 parts per billion to 10 parts per billion. The city has until Jan. 1, 2008, to comply with the new guidelines.
While Prescott's drinking water, which it pumps from its Chino Valley well field, complied with the old standards, it does not meet the new standards consistently.
For more than a year, city officials have considered methods for treating the water to bring it in line with the new standards. In April, the Prescott City Council entered a five-year contract with California company Layne Christensen for installation of wellhead equipment at each of the wells.
Ciaffoni acknowledges that the new treatment system likely will not be operational in time for the deadline.
Along with the conditional use permit process, the installation of the wellhead systems will take about four months. Between the permit process and the installation, Ciaffoni said, it could be spring before the system is fully operational.
Currently, he said, the city "is in the preliminary steps of notifying ADEQ (Arizona Department of Environmental Quality) of this status."
Even so, Ciaffoni said the city should be in "practical compliance" with the federal standards throughout the winter and early spring - even without the arsenic treatment.
Several of the individual wells have arsenic levels that fall within the new standards, he said. During the winter, when community water demand is low, the city does not use the wells with the highest arsenic levels.
While the city approved the contract for the treatment system in April, Ciaffoni said a question subsequently arose about whether Prescott would have to get a conditional use permit from Chino Valley.
Ultimately, he said, the city agreed to apply for the permit.
Gerald Stricklin, interim assistant town manager and development services director for the Town of Chino Valley, said this week that town officials have told Prescott officials consistently that a conditional use permit would be necessary. In fact, he said, the original discussions on the matter date back to about March 2006.
"The town code requires it for this use," Stricklin said of the permit. He pointed out that the code stipulates that conditional use permits are necessary for public service companies to expand their utilities.
The purpose of the permit is to mitigate the impact of uses that go beyond the usual uses in zoning districts, Stricklin said. For instance, he said the town would ask for screening walls to conceal the view of the new equipment.
While Ciaffoni hoped the use permit would take about three and a half months, Stricklin said the timing of the process would "depend on how quickly the City of Prescott complies with the requirements."
He added: "In large part, (the timing of the permit) is up to Prescott." Typically, however, the permit takes about 60 to 90 days to process, Stricklin said.
The public review will begin at 4 p.m. Tuesday, when a neighborhood meeting will take place at the Chino Valley Senior Center, 1021 W. Butterfield Road, for consideration of the four wellhead treatment systems.
Other steps will involve review by the Chino Valley Planning and Zoning Commission, and consideration by the Town Council.
