After years of wrangling, the Tri-City Regional Sanitary District (TRSD) is getting ready to break ground on a significant piece of its long-awaited sewer system.
The district is a few months from setting its treatment plant in place, a crucial step in Phase I of the three-phase project that will eventually serve about 4,000 residents in the unincorporated areas between Globe and Miami.
The district’s board has made significant progress in the past year, and expects to have the Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) installed on an 8-acre property along Arizona State Route 188 in June.
The previous proposed site, near Cobre Valley Regional Medical Center in the shadow of the Solitude Tailings Facility, was passed over due to BHP's efforts to stabilize the tailings in the wake of catastrophic collapses at a mine in Brazil in 2015 and 2019.
Construction on other parts of the system are expected to begin as early as the end of March. In order to help offset costs for residents of the district, TRSD has broken the project up into smaller pieces and is recruiting local contractors to do much of the preliminary work.
According to Mike Krebs, lead engineer on the project since the TRSD hired PACE Engineering in 2012, the district has $60 million in funding from various sources to get started on the project.
“I'm hopeful they'll start as soon as mid- to late March, between there and mid-April,” Krebs says. “The board has been fabulous: They're engaged, they know what's going on, and they are really working hard for the people that live here.”
The WRF is being built in California and is expected to be delivered sometime in June. In the meantime, construction will begin on a number of lift stations and piping to move wastewater that will eventually be treated into A+ effluent that could possibly represent an additional revenue stream for the district.
The road to TRSD getting shovels in the ground has been a long one, going back as far as 1968, when the Cobre Valley Sanitary District (CVSD) and the Pinal Sanitary District (PSD) were created to manage wastewater treatment and disposal in the area.
In 1972, Gila County attempted to acquire funding for the Greater Globe-Miami Wastewater Project. That project stalled, but local mining interests built the Holgate Wastewater Treatment Facility in 1973, turning it over to the City of Globe in 1974
After decades of studies and a search for viable alternatives, the TRSD tax district was formed in 2011 through the merger of the CVSD and PSD. Shortly thereafter, TRSD commissioned engineering firm AMEC to develop a preliminary engineering report before turning the project over to PACE.
Throughout the past decade-plus, PACE has developed the project and worked to find as much outside financing as possible. Funding has been identified from sources such as: U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development (USDA RD), Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona (WIFA), Rural Community Assistance Corp, as well as any other grant that can be identified.
“We're taking advantage of every opportunity for grant funding,” says TRSD’s acting Board President Connie Callaway, who has served on the board since 2023. “We're taking advantage of a lot of smaller WIFA grants that add up, trying to be strategic to save residents' dollars, because, in reality, the longer it takes, the more it's going to cost.”
The main funding for Phase I comes from USDA RD funding that is a 60/40 grant/loan package, with residents paying about $12 million over a 40 year span. There will be no cost to homeowners to connect to the system, as colonia funding is designated for low-income areas facing problems with sewage systems, potable water, and lack of housing.
A functioning wastewater treatment system will address many of the problems in the area, including housing, as many home-sites are still using septic systems and cesspools, and are often in a state of limbo.
Cesspools were outlawed by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) in 1976.
As of 2019, Gila County identified approximately 1,600 homes served by cesspools and substandard septic systems that are still in use, many either failing or on the verge of failing. Some of those have been in service for more than 100 years, and when it rains, they can leak untreated water into the streets.
Between 2007 and 2015, 75 parcels had known failed sewage systems, and it has continued to get worse.
In order to help residents with failing, on-site systems, TRSD is working with Gila County to bridge the gap until the new sewer is in place.
“The county has been great to work with,” Krebs says. “They have had instances where people are struggling with their existing, on-site system, and in the past, they wouldn't have any choice but to abandon their house, but the district and the county are working together and providing what is known as a 'limp along' permit for those people to keep them in their houses.”
Former TRSD Board President Robert Jacques was voted off the board in the 2024 election and took a year off because of the toll his service took. He recently started to attend meetings and get up to speed on the project again, but thinks it is time for the current board to step up its outreach efforts, given the imminent construction in the works.
“It's the biggest project in Gila County, and nobody's talking about it,” Jacques says. “There are 4,000 people who are impacted by these costs, so somebody's got to talk about it.”
He added that he would be surprised if the final cost for the entire project is less than $112 million when all is said and done.
Due to the way in which the project is being funded, the district is hesitant to estimate the final cost, as public funding sources often change without warning.
Jacques and Krebs both cited the state of USDA RD funding, which has been slashed from $400 to $500 million to $95 million nationwide. Additionally, the funds are now distributed through discretionary congressional spending, adding a political aspect to the process.
Jacques says that the project is vital to the future of the region, though, and he would like to see more people taking interest and showing up to the meetings in order to stay abreast of what is going on.
“To upgrade that system and make the community habitable, there's no alternative,” he says. “If TRSD would fail, who's going to step into the breach and bring something like that through to fruition? We have to move ahead, otherwise you've wasted all the monies expended and all the grant monies available to the project.”
Given the stated goals of Globe and Miami to increase economic activity through growth, the added sewer capacity is vital to increased housing supplies, and will also make for a safer environment with healthier waterways in a region where water is scarce.
Callaway says now that there will soon be “shovels in the ground,” the district is going to step up communications, and is even planning to host public workshops to disseminate information.
“My intention is to make sure that we're communicating with our public and that we're taking every opportunity to change perceptions as well,” she says. “We're not trying to hide, and we know everybody has questions, or they have information that was misconstrued, and we want to address any misinformation.”
Once the system is online and producing effluent, though, there will be additional revenue streams available, and the district could follow Globe's lead by selling treated wastewater to local mining interests.
Krebs says that possibility is down the road; the main focus is on getting things up and running.
“You can't get any effluent out of it 'til you get water coming into the system,” he says. “We're working with ADEQ to accept the system as it progresses, instead of waiting 'til it's all done. That would allow us to make connections and button everything up.”
Phase I includes the treatment facility, as well as a number of lift stations, and piping in the area from Railroad Avenue to Mill Street, south of US 60.
In addition to funding for Phase I, TRSD has received a $5 million grant to design and begin construction of Phase II.
Phase II is proposed south of US 60, roughly from Ragus Road to E Main Street, serving the neighborhoods along Russell Canyon Road to E Jack Rabbit Lane.
Phase III will serve the remaining homes and businesses south of US 60 to the district’s eastern boundary and north along SR 188 to the WRF, just past Guayo's on the Trail.
The entire district will serve the neighborhoods of Lower Miami, Claypool, Central Heights, Country Club Manor, Midland City, Little Acres, Bechtel Tract, and north on SR 188 just past Bandy Heights.
Interactive maps of the TRSD and other information about the district can be found at trsdwastewater.org.
There is no timeline on completion of the overall project as yet, but after decades in the making, the beginning is in sight.
“This year is the most pivotal year we've had, because you're actually going to see something,” Callaway says. “We're coming off of some big challenges, and we've overcome all those challenges to the point where we are today, where USDA is fully backing us, we've awarded contracts, and we're going to construction.”
TRSD board meetings are generally held on the third week of the month — subject to change — and are accessible to the public in-person or via Zoom. To be added to the agenda email list, go to trsdwastewater.org. Meetings take place at the IBEW building, located at 1383 N. Hwy. 188 in Globe.
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