Pictured: A failing cesspool in the unincorporated area of Gila County between Globe and Miami is one example of the need for sewer system upgrades. Photo provided.

Among the challenges to communities in the Copper Corridor is an aging sewer infrastructure that is crumbling to non-existent in some places.

While Miami and Globe both have sewer systems functioning on some level — Miami is in the midst of a $25 million, 14-month upgrade and Globe recently increased revenues by renewing an agreement so sell treated effluent to Freeport-McMoRan — there is a swath of unincorporated land between the two towns that runs on septic systems, with places in the hills where sewage is being dumped into cesspools or piped directly into creek beds.

Cesspools were outlawed by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) in 1976, so the search for solutions to problems that affect the area both environmentally and economically have been ongoing for more than four decades.

Enter the Tri-City Sanitary District, a local tax district formed in 2011 with the merger of the Cobre Valley Sanitary District (CVSD) and the Pinal Sanitary District (PSD). TCSD will have its required Truth in Taxation public hearing next week to announce a tax increase to its constituents, and on July 9 will have a public meeting to adopt its 2018-2019 budget.

TCSD board president Bob Zache has been there from the beginning and if it is within his power before he passes from this mortal coil, there will be a functioning sewer system, or the project will be far enough along to ensure completion.

“In the late ’70s after the EPA outlawed cesspools, 90 percent of the units in the region had cesspools or non-functioning septic systems,” Zache said. “If we’re going to have a working system, we’ll have to build it ourselves.”

CVSD and PSD were established in 1968 to manage the publicly owned wastewater treatment and disposal in unincorporated areas between Globe and Miami, according to information provided to the county in 2015 by TCSD.

CVSD took on the area of the Central Heights Fire District, which merged with Tri-City Fire in 2002, while the PSD boundaries followed the 1960s-era Tri-City Fire District boundaries. See current map here.

In 1972, the county embarked on a campaign to fund the Greater Globe-Miami Wastewater Project, but that project stalled “when contractual issues arose among parties involved.”

In the absence of public utilities, copper mining interests built the Holgate wastewater treatment facility, turning it over to the City of Globe in 1974.

In the ensuing years, studies were completed and plans created, but neither the CVSD nor the PSD were able to pull the trigger on implementation of a regional system and in 2011 those districts merged to become TCSD.

“PSD had $200,000 on hand and stuck it in savings,” Zache, who served on the board of PSD, said. “We ended up with $310,000 and used that to fund the TCSD.”

The district commissioned Valley contractor AMEC to develop a Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) to “explore alternatives and pursue USDA-RD funding to help facilitate a project.”

USDA-RD is rural development funding intended to “improve the economy and quality of life in rural America.”

TCSD then hired PACE, a water engineering firm with offices in Scottsdale, to lead the project, which currently has a $53 million to $54 million price tag, although the final cost could top $70 million.

But a solution is necessary. As of 2015, approximately 1,300 operating cesspools and 300 substandard septic systems are still in use, and many are either failing or on the verge of failing.

Between 2007 and 2015, 75 parcels had known failed sewage systems and it is only getting worse in some areas.

The PACE study considered several alternatives, from taking no action to various combinations of collaboration with Globe and Miami systems, but ultimately, TCSD decided to go it alone, despite outreach by both municipalities.

In 2013-2014, the towns proposed collaboration with TCSD, as both Globe and Miami are only utilizing about 50 percent each of their sewer treatment capacity. But the offer by former Globe City Manager Brent Billingsly and former Miami Town Manager Jerry Barnes to treat sewage at a cost of $9.32 per gallon was soundly rejected by TCSD as not cost effective.

It also drove a wedge into relationships that do not seem to have a clear solution.

“I’m not going to put my constituents into a bad position,” Zache said. “I’m doing this to get the sewer rate down.”

Part of the problem is that the infrastructure for the district still has to be built and there are numerous impediments from topography to resistance from some residents to having a functioning sewer.

As it is, the scope of the proposed project includes the installation of 58,000 linear feet of gravity sewer lines, 7,500 feet of forced sewer main lines, approximately 145 new manholes, 856 new service connections, sewage water lift stations, and water reclamation facility to process 250,000 gallons per day. The system would serve Lower Miami, Claypool, Miami Gardens, Country Club Manor, Midland City, Bechtel Tract and Central Heights, encompassing five and one-half square miles with an estimated population of 4,022 with approximately 2,000 hookups.

Zache estimates it will take two years to build once all the easements and rights of way are acquired and all the surveying is done.

An additional wrinkle in the plan is that a portion of the Miami sewer upgrade falls within the TCSD sphere of influence, so there may be a storm brewing on that front.

But all interested parties agree that there needs to be a solution and the sooner it can be done, the better.

“What you need to do is get someone from Miami, Globe and the TCSD together in a room and not let them out until there is a solution,” current Miami Town Manager Joe Heatherly said.

Heatherly has spent a lot of time during his two-year tenure dealing with infrastructure issues, including the long-awaited sewer upgrades, in a town that is on a razor-thin financial margin and has to be mindful of every dollar it spends.

Zache estimates the cost of the treatment plant will be in the $5 million to $6 million range and the rest of the project will be built in two additional phases.

The Truth in Taxation hearing will take place at the Tri-City Fire Department, located at 4280 E. Broadway, Claypool at 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday, June 27. The public is invited to attend.