Cave Creek sewer plant: $31 million
Construction could begin as early as May
by Brian DiTullio

CAVE CREEK – Building a new wastewater treatment plant will consist of two phases and could cost as much as $31.1 million.

Proposed numbers and construction schedules were unveiled to town council at a work session on July 16. Garney Construction was chosen by a technical advisory team as the construction contractor, and the firm Burns & McDonnell was selected as design engineers. American Water Co. will operate the current plant until its demolition.

Al Dreska, senior program director for Parsons, an engineering and construction firm, gave a detailed PowerPoint presentation about the project, which has been in the town’s plans for several years.

The proposed financials included a “Guaranteed Maximum Price” of $31,103,288 for the entire project, which includes design, construction, and operation for the first two years. Phase I, the design phase, is estimated to cost $4,345,431. That contract will be presented to town council at its Aug. 20 meeting for review and possible approval.

Actual construction costs are estimated to be $23,306,598.

No date for approval of that contract has been set. The overall proposed schedule shows construction beginning in May 2008, with completion scheduled for August 2009.   

Town Manager Usama Abujbarah pointed out to council that a Water Infrastructure Finance Authority loan would cover only construction costs, not the cost of operating the plants, estimated to be just under $4 million for the next four years.

“We have to fund the operations,” Abujbarah said. “WIFA won’t do it.”

The new treatment plant, called the Cave Creek Water Ranch, will be located near the northeast corner of 44th Street and Carefree Highway. The facility is to be built below grade, with the idea that it won’t be easily visible from nearby roadways. The project includes noise reduction measures and odor control.

Bob Schulz with Burns & McDonnell noted this is a fairly “sizable” project for Cave Creek and that his company would do its best to blend the facility into the landscape.

Tom Auay‑Fuay, introduced as the lead project manager, informed the council that about 120 people would be involved in the plant’s construction.

The facility is being designed to handle 750,000 gallons of waste‑water per day, with the ability to double capacity in the future, should development require it. The engineers said the plant would have at least a 25‑year life span, but probably much longer than that.

Town Engineer Wayne Anderson said he doesn’t expect to have to double the plant’s capacity until at least 2020.

Mayor Vincent Francia asked about creating a community garden on some of the unused acreage of the site, to which Schulz replied they would have to check the kinds of chemicals employed in the treatment process, as the treated effluent is being used mainly for irrigation purposes at Rancho Manana golf course.

The existing wastewater treatment plant will be decommissioned and torn down about two years after the new plant begins operation. According to Abujbarah, the town has not decided what it will do with that property, but is considering auctioning it off and putting the revenue back into the cost of building and operating the new plant. The current plant site has not yet been appraised.

Since the meeting was a work session, no formal actions were taken.