Sedona’s Desert Wetlands: A waste(water) of time and money?

Story and photo by Cyndy Hardy
Available for reprint

Something smells at the Sedona Wastewater Treatment Plant – and it isn’t just the sludge. Arizona Department of Environmental Quality’s 2002 mandate to Sedona to remove mass amounts of trees and foliage in the city’s three reclaimed water reservoirs went ignored. In August 2007, ADEQ Inspector Craig Brown discovered that not a shovel had been lifted. Now the dams are cracked and treated sewage may be leaking.

Today the main reservoir, which is supposed to be bare, looks like a full-blown riparian area. Ducks skit across the stunning blue pond and the Western slope looks like a nice place for a summer picnic. All that’s missing is a boat dock and some bikinis.

“We regularly see deer and wild cats in the mornings,” said Wastewater Director Pat Livingstone. She would like to catch illegal hunters who prey on the immigrant wildlife in the mornings, she said, pointing out horse tracks in the dirt road atop the dam that were not left by city staff. She was less concerned about the occasional groups of birdwatchers who visit the plant.

The animals are either unaware – or unconcerned – that the water they’re drinking and swimming in recently came from Sedona’s toilets. So, why should humans be concerned, aside from the nasty visuals?

First, the city doesn’t have many answers for why it did not take care of the vegetation five years ago before one of the dams cracked. Jim Johnson was director of wastewater in 2002 when ADEQ mandated the repairs. Mr. Johnson retired in 2006, replaced by Ms. Livingston.

When asked who was responsible for supervising Mr. Johnson and how he managed to evade compliance for four years, City Manager Eric Levitt referred to the chain of command.

In 2002 Mr. Johnson was under the supervision of then-assistant city manager Carol Johnson, who had served in the past as Assistant Public Works Director and City Engineer. Ms. Johnson has not worked for the city since at least April 2004. Wastewater was put under the direction of Public Works Director Charles Mosley.

Mr. Mosley was unavailable for comment because of a death in the family.

Second, how much revenue might the city have saved if Mr. Johnson had taken care of the problem five years ago? Construction costs have increased about 28 percent since 2004, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Statistic’s producer price index.

On Dec. 11, the Sedona City Council approved a $94,810 contract with Phoenix-based URS Corporation to prepare a plan and oversee the removal of the vegetation; develop construction cost estimates to repair the berms; write an operation and maintenance plan; and construct an access way to the valving in Reservoir #3. About $325,000 is budgeted for berm maintenance in Sedona’s 2007/2008 budget. The city expects much of that money will be carried over into the next fiscal year and plans to ask for an additional $275,000, according to city documents.

Third, if treated effluent is leaking, why aren’t the grassroots groups mobilized? Sedona’s wastewater plant is no Snowbowl, but treated effluent is treated effluent.

ADEQ found longitudinal cracks – one approximately 50 feet long and two feet deep – and possible transverse cracks. While ADEQ’s Aug. 24, 2007 report did not mention leaks, a Dec. 11 Sedona staff report to the City Council did: “Groundwater level monitoring indicates the dams may be leaking.”

Ms. Livingston said staff “put as much in [the City Council report] as possible to convince the public it needs to be done.”

The City Council unanimously approved the URS contract without comment.