Going to Waste
By K. Robert Wendel

Lake Havasu City, Ariz., is one of the largest cities in the nation without a sewer system, but not for long.

The town is planning to spend $463 million over the next 10 years installing new sewer connections and mainlines.

Contractors doing the installations will have to try to make 25,000 individual owners happy as they replace more than 25,000 individual septic systems with new gravity line sewer connections. They'll also be putting in pump stations, expanded wastewater treatment plants and a new water treatment plant for the city on the banks of the Colorado River. of Lake Havasu, Ariz.

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"For the most part, homeowners have been great to work with," said Jason Holdredge, a project manger for Pueblo West, Colo.-based Pate Construction. "The homeowners have welcomed us with open arms, telling us we can sit in their shade and offering us drinks. It's been an excellent experience."

The homeowners will also need patience, with plans calling for all the streets with main-line excavation to be repaved, along with the installation of 390 mi. of mainline sewer, 400 mi. of lateral lines to homes and the construction of 9,700 manholes.
Funding for the project was approved by 75 percent of Lake Havasu voters, with bonds repaid through the use of a one-time connection fee of $2,000 and monthly service fees.

"We are tearing up a lot of streets," said Bob Benbow, project manager for Burns and McDonnell Engineering, the city's construction manager. "We are providing new asphalt for all the streets, and as long as we are tearing them up, we are going to try to patch some of the nasty potholes."

Each septic system must be put out of commission, with contractors collapsing the systems and burying them when possible. That means digging up the yards and trenching to the new lateral lines. When a structure has been built over a septic system, crews pump in concrete grout to seal the system. The hope is the new sewer system will lessen the amount of nitrates entering the Colorado River, an important resort destination for southern Californians, Nevadans and Arizonans.

"Anytime you get waste in a body of water were bacteria are naturally occurring, that body of water provides a medium that is an ideal incubator for bacteria," said Bob Leuck, Lake Havasu City engineer.

"You end up with so much development that you start to get algae blooms that could choke off the lake. At some point, you are going to get nitrates in the lake as another food source for bacteria."

To treat the water, the city is also expanding two water treatment plants, with crews from S-2 Contractors of Aurora, Ore. working on projects at the Mulberry and Island wastewater treatment plants. The two plants will have a combined capacity of 4.7 million gallons a day.

Las Vegas-based MMC Inc. is putting the finishing touches on a new, $21 million water treatment plant. Ultimately, the region will have 14.7 mgd of treatment capacity.
The city is also excepting letters of qualifications for the North Regional Wastewater treatment plant.