The city of Cottonwood is preparing to build a new water treatment plant by Riverfront Park and it hopes to make the facility as reliant on solar energy as possible.
The $8.5 million plant, to be located near an existing lift station, has been in the works for several years.
The plant will improve the city’s ability to handle wastewater.
It will also save the city some money, since the city currently pays around $100,000 a month to pump the water uphill.
The lower elevation of the plant will save the city money since it won’t require as much electricity to boost water through the pipes to the current higher elevation.
Flooding is a concern at the lower elevation, so the city plans to lift and build a wall around the new plant to keep it out of the 500-year flood zone.
“The cost and liability associated with pumping raw sanitary sewage several miles uphill to the existing treatment plant and need for additional, long-term irrigation at Riverfront Park and the surrounding area make this project a win-win for both the utility department and city of Cottonwood and its residents,” according to a 2011 report on the project from the city’s development services department. “This project has also been very well-received by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and is a model for the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Water Sustainability in Arizona. This plant represents the future for water reuse in the Verde Valley and state.”
To help meet the city’s goals for powering the new reclamation plant with solar power, the city is working with T.J. Stockbridge and his company, Stockbridge Energy Group.
To read the full story, see the Wednesday, Oct. 8, edition of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
