PRESCOTT VALLEY - This past week's storm triggered the spill of 1.25 million gallons of untreated sewage from the town's sewer plant Thursday and Friday into the nearby Agua Fria River, Utilities Director Neil Wadsworth said.
A power spike tripped the outside generators at the sewer plant and shut the plant down, Wadsworth said.
The power failure lasted from 7 p.m. Thursday until 7 a.m. Friday, and recurred from 2 to 7 p.m. Friday.
He said town officials found out about the first failure at 7 a.m. Friday when crews from plant operator CH2M Hill OMI arrived at the plant, located off East Lakeshore Drive.
The high volume of sewage did not pose a health hazard because the storm caused the flow at the normally dry river to reach 435,000 gallons of water per minute - 200 million gallons during the entire storm - and diluted the sewage, Wadsworth said. That amounts to a dilution factor of 200 to 1, or one tablespoon of sewage per a gallon of water.
No one was working at the plant Thursday night, and the automatic alarms failed because of the storm, Wadsworth said.
The sewage spilled into the headworks near the plant's entry, and overflowed into the river, Wadsworth said.
Wadsworth said he notified the field office of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Friday and called its 24-hour hotline.
He said state law requires the town to submit a report to ADEQ within five days of the incident and follow up with a 30-day report.
ADEQ spokesman Mark Shaffer commented Monday afternoon, "I know that we are investigating it."
Prescott Valley could face a fine, Wadsworth said, adding human error at the plant 11 years ago led to a fine.
OMI Project Director John Bowman and other officials from the contractor were unavailable for comment Monday regarding the sewer spill.
The sewer plant, which dates to 1993, processes 2.5 million gallons of sewage per day that in turn is recharged into the aquifer, Wadsworth said.
He said lab tests of contamination upstream and downstream from the spill were inconclusive because bacteria could have come from animal waste and in sediments. He also saw no need to post warning signs along the river.
"With the high volumes of water in the Agua Fria, there is no risk to the public," Wadsworth said. "The amount of time to react was so short."
Wadsworth discussed the sewage spill Monday afternoon during a press conference Town Manager Larry Tarkowski arranged to discuss the effects of the storm. Town offices are closed on Fridays.
TRAFFIC
The storm triggered some minor traffic accidents this past week, Police Lt. Wayne Nelson said. Police responded to two accidents on StoneRidge Drive, one of the steepest streets in the town.
He blamed ice on StoneRidge Drive for a two-vehicle, non-injury accident this past Tuesday morning.
"We normally get a lot of accidents" during storms, Nelson said, adding he thinks more accidents did not occur because people stayed home.
Police Chief Jim Maxson commented, "All together, it was pretty minor: five weather-related accidents" this past week.
Public Works crews also spread 30 yards of cinders on streets during the storm to provide better traction for motorists, Public Works Director Norm Davis said.
Town officials also closed Fain Park on Thursday and Friday because of the storm, Tarkowski said.
Posted: Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Article comment by:
PAUL F MILLER
Though any sewage spill or overflow should be taken seriously and dealt with efficiently and expeditiously, I must admit I continue to find it amusing how purveyors of wastewater treatment facilities, public and private, over the years use acts of God such as the recent flooding as righteous deliverance as it permits them to release sewage of all kinds into the flood waters.
Hey, you think I am joking If so I invite you to go into the achieves of the major papers in Arizona and review the proliferation of news accounts following any storm where sewage is found in the flood waters Co-incident I dont think so
Posted: Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Article comment by:
PETE
IT'S DONE AND OVERWITH. YOU HAVE TO LIVE WITH IT. ALL YOU CAN DO TO BETTER THE SITUATION IS WALK THE RIVER BANK AND TRY TO SALVAGE ALL THE TOILET PAPER AND OTHER ITEMS THAT ARE ADHEARING TO THE BUCKBRUSH AND TUMBLE WEED IN AN AIR DRY POSITION
Posted: Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Article comment by:
Scumboldt
To the person who said that the Agua Fria river runs year-round, its dry up here in P.V. most of the time. There must be creeks and washes emptying into it from Mingus.
Posted: Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Article comment by:
Bobby
I wish Ken was my father. He is so cool.
Posted: Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Article comment by:
No name provided
One tablespoon per gallon? Yikes! I wouldn't want to touch that either! Blame it on animal waste? What a cop out. There just aren't that many animals compared to the human contributors in this case. Besides, animal waste degrades over time and since when has it been pointed to as a contaminant in rivers under normal flood conditions?
Posted: Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Article comment by:
No name provided
I imagine most of the solids got caught at the headworks. Just the liquids went down the river. Either way, by the time Phoenix drinks it, it'll be treated! Which is why I drink bottled water whenever I'm down there.
Posted: Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Article comment by:
No name provided
The concern is not effluent. Its raw sewage.
Posted: Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Article comment by:
No name provided
I know what they do, to try and recharge the aquifier, in the Agua Fria River, and recognize that the state issues recharge credits, that the town has sold. Due to the composition of the soil, and other factors that effluent does not recharge the aquifier in ANY significent way. The Agua Fria river bed is just a convienient place to dump the effluent,and the main reason, along with elevation, that the plant was located there. The only way to effectively recharge is to do effluent injection.
Posted: Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Article comment by:
No name provided
The Agua Fria river runs year-round from Humboldt on down for many miles. I used to have to drive across it every day to get to my house.
Posted: Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Article comment by:
No name provided
This was not a spill of effluent or it would not be in the news. PV puts effluent in the river every day. This was a spill of over one million gallons of raw, untreated sewage!
Posted: Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Article comment by:
Just amazed...
No name provided, do you live in P.V.? The Agua Fria river bed never has water in it until it rains heavily. Whatever effluent is spilled, it's recharging because there is no water. It spilled this time and because there was water in the Agua Fria, viola! Lake Pleasant, here I come!!! Are you aware that this river starts in the back of P.V.? Did you also know that cattle are kept in that area just off of Roundup Drive on the west side of Viewpoint Drive? I've been here forever and so have the cattle. I can imagine the amount of manure in the river bed. Take a look at the map in the telephone book, you'll see the words 'Agua Fria River' near the aforementioned roads and then take a drive. Due to last week's storm, of course that effluent is going to end up down-river. I'm not a effluent expert (just what I learned in Environmental Geology at the college, take it!) nor am I taking the side of the Town. We really don't know how much effluent spilled. Let's give credit to the officials for reporting this to ADEQ quickly. Ever since the prison came up (which I oppose, BTW), everyone's so quick to jump on the let's-bash-P.V. town officials-wagon. I can't wait to read all the comments from the armchair politicians who have a problem with my comment.
Posted: Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Article comment by:
just the facts
To "No name provided": You are incorrect, the water IS recharged into the aquifer IN the Agua Fria river bed. They have built a series of barriers into the normally dry riverbed that impedes the flow of water and it then sinks in and recharges the aquifer. No way does it ever reach Lake Pleasant without major storms. If you are going to try to sound intelligent, at least get your facts straight first. And if they were trying to cover it up, why would they call a press conference? You are the one making ME laugh! :)
Posted: Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Article comment by:
Not surprised
What happens if there is a power outage due to anything other than bad weather? Where is the emergency generator? That this facility was placed next to the river without back-up power is irresponsible at best.
Posted: Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Article comment by:
No name provided
This appears to be an attempt at damage control, or cover up. First, the effluent is not recharged into the aquifer. It goes into the Agua Fria River bed and runs down toward Lake Pleasant. People and towns in this situation, always rely on the old stand by, the solution to pollution, is dilution. Lab tests were inconclusive, made me laugh, blame it on the animals right. If the risk is as low as they claim, which I think it's much greater, I'd like to see all the fact finders drink a big glass of the water discharged. Misinformation and damage control.
