The City of Flagstaff is currently preparing to build a new water tank at the Railroad Springs tank site this summer. The tank will be an addition to the existing one, as a requirement for the Presidio in the Pines development on the west side of town.
Ryan Roberts, utilities engineering manager for the City of Flagstaff, said the development is part of a Master Planned Subdivision and needs supplemental water storage to provide for homeowners.
“The Presidio in the Pines development was a mixed use Master Planned Subdivision located in the western portion of west Flagstaff,” Roberts said. “The city has several different water pressure zones and each pressure zone requires water storage for fire fighting and domestic use purposes.”
Roberts explained that in 2005, the developer took out performance bonds to begin the project, as per standard policy. However, the project was never finished because they filed for bankruptcy. Since then, the City of Flagstaff has cashed the performance bonds to make headway with the project this summer.
“The developer took out performance bonds—[a] standard policy—prior to starting their construction,” Roberts said. “The developer started construction at the tank site in 2005 but then subsequently filed bankruptcy and was unable to complete the tank. The City of Flagstaff then stepped in, cashed in the performance bonds, and is completing the tank this summer.”
Roberts said half of the project is being funded by the developers and the other half by the city. The funds from the city were designated for this project in 2005, when the developers filed for bankruptcy. According to Roberts, the construction of the water tank will not require any extra rates or funds to be built.
“[The project] is being funded 50% from the developer’s performance bond and 50% from the City of Flagstaff Utilities Department capital budget,” Roberts said. “The funding from the city was set aside and designated for this use back in 2005. There are no new costs or additional rates required for the construction of this water storage tank.”
Roberts said the project meets water storage requirement standards for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ).
Mark Shaffer, communications director for ADEQ, said the Safe Drinking Water Program helps ensure Arizona’s water quality for all its water systems. Altogether, these water systems serve half a billion people every day.
“ADEQ’s Drinking Water Program helps to ensure the quality of water provided by Arizona’s more than 1,675 regulated public water systems,” Shaffer said. “[And that they] meet all applicable state and federal safe drinking water standards. Collectively, the systems serve more than 5 million people daily.”
Shaffer explained that the program works by all the water systems reporting and monitoring the quality of their water. According the Shaffer, due to the large number of water systems throughout the state, the Monitoring Assistance Program (MAP) helps with the evaluation process of water contaminants.
“The foundation of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) is based largely upon the self monitoring and reporting of contaminants by regulated public water systems,” Shaffer said. “ADEQ introduced MAP to assist systems serving less than 10,000 persons with the collection, transport and analysis of samples for the majority of the regulated contaminants.”