Marana to expand wastewater treatment facility to keep up with growth

MARANA, AZ (Tucson News Now) - The Marana town council recently approved an expansion of its wastewater treatment facility, which continued growth for the town.

The facility currently treats 500,000 gallons per day, but the expansion would allow the facility to triple its output, said John Kmiec, director of the Marana Water Department.

Two treatment basins are slated to be added, allowing the facility to treat 1.5 million gallons per day.

Kmiec said this process with take about two years to complete, about a year for the design and another year to build the basins.

Kmiec said the expansion is necessary. He said as the community grows, they are slowly maxing out their current facility.

"Essentially, as growth continues up here we need to have the capacity to treat wastewater to allow those homes and businesses to continue to build. Without a plant expansion, we would be forced to stop building for a while until a new expansion occurred," he said.

The expansion will cost about $21 million and most of the money will come from bonds.