Somerton seeks money to increase treatment plant

SOMERTON - Somerton is seeking a total of $6.2 million in loans and grants to increase the capacity of the city's wastewater treatment plant to handle growth.

The city council recently gave Somerton officials the go-ahead to apply for a $2.2 million loan through the Water Infrastructure and Finance Authority of Arizona, and the city also is seeking a $2 million loan and a grant in the same amount from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Administration for the project.

The expansion would increase the treatment capacity of the overworked plant from about 800,000 gallons a day to 1.8 million daily, according to City Administrator Bill Lee.

The city is hoping to close the loans later this month, after which the expansion project would begin, he said.

"The plan reached its maximum capacity last year, and by law an expansion must be done when it reaches 80 percent," Mayor Martin Porchas said.

City officials say the expansion will enable the plant to keep up with the city's growth through 2025, assuming the growth rate returns to its pre-recession level of 250 new homes per year. 

The loan money would be paid off through sewer rates, although Porchas said no new rate increases are planned. The rate was raised a year ago in anticipation of needed expansion, he said.