By Adrienne St. Clair for Arizona Builder’s Exchange
Arizona Water Company has submitted a proposal to the City of Sedona to build a water storage tank and pumping facility at the intersection of West Mallard Drive and Highway 179.
The project proposal comes “after years of careful consideration,” according to the company’s website, and is designed to fill an expected need. The website states the project will “help ensure the same level of fire protection and water service reliability that customers in the rest of our system enjoy.”
A water storage tank, booster pump station and operational facilities will be built on the nearly one-acre lot along Highway 179. The booster pump station will be capable of delivering up to 3K gallons per minute. The tank, which will be built underground, will be 113 feet in diameter and will hold up to 1.5M gallons of water.
The storage tank will be surrounded by a 10-foot ring of sand and covered on top by almost 3KSF of soil to help “restore the site to its pre-construction conditions” — a priority listed by the water company in the project proposal. The only recognizable change to the landscape will be the operational facilities built on top of the reservoir. Those facilities are planned to reflect the design of homes in the surrounding area. There will also be two rainwater retention basins onsite.
The site’s physical attributes and its relation to the surrounding area were considered in the planning process. Some of the physical elements that came into play were things like the site topography, existing landscape, soil properties and water drainage patters. Planners also considered the properties of the surrounding community. The project plans comply with the requirements of the City of Sedona requirements, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and Coconino County, according to documents submitted to the city.
The water company also says it is “committed to an open and collaborative communication process” when it comes to helping residents understand the new facility. The company has a page dedicated to the project and links to all city documents. It also has sent out letters to residents and held meetings with surrounding HOAs.
The company emphasizes several times in its materials that the goal of the water storage facility is “to make sure that the surrounding community’s water demands, water supply sources, storage, and booster pump station requirements are being reliably and adequately met.”