Sludge Watch ==> More Snow From Sewage Effluent Contemplated in Arizona

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Already Tribal Governments in Arizona are tangled in court trying to stop 
the use of 'Snow Fluent' - sewage effluent sprayed on sacred peaks to make 
snow for a snowboarding park.

The City of Flagstaff engaged scientists from the USGS to study the 
composition of the sewage effluent and these test results are available 
under Freedom of Information legislation from the City of Flagstaff.

They will show how the chemicals in the effluent can cause environmentals 
problems in these pristine environments.

Now more 'snowfluent' is being contemplated just north of the Tucson area.




llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Plant might make snow for Mount Lemmon
Associated Press
Feb. 5, 2007 07:51 AM

TUCSON - Officials are considering using a new sewage-treatment plant to 
produce effluent that could be used to fight forest fires and make snow for 
the slopes of Mount Lemmon Ski Valley.

Pima County environmental officials and the U.S. Forest Service are studying 
the watershed and sewage-treatment needs of Mount Lemmon in the Santa 
Catalina Mountains, just northeast of Tucson.

County officials have begun to solicit ideas from interested parties and 
landowners in Summerhaven - a small cabin community on Mount Lemmon - about 
producing effluent, or treated sewage. A public meeting about the issue is 
scheduled for noon Saturday.


The Forest Service would have the final say on any plan, which could also 
call for the effluent to flow into Sabino Canyon, which often is left dry 
because of Arizona's ongoing drought.

Any plan to produce effluent would have to overcome the hurdles that led to 
a 1981 state ban on discharging treated wastewater into the Sabino Creek 
drainage.

Because of the ban and Forest Service limits, the current sewage plant in 
Summerhaven must pump its effluent to a spray field in the another drainage 
on the northeast face of the mountain.

Pima County also wants to boost its capacity on Mount Lemmon to hook up 
homes and businesses to affluent lines as they are rebuilt. The Aspen fire 
destroyed two-thirds of the homes in 2003. Hooking up the buildings to the 
lines would help fight another possible forest fire.

Paul Bennett, deputy director for planning and engineering with Pima County 
Wastewater, said officials also will look at snow-making as a possibility 
for the effluent.

Mount Lemmon Ski Valley, which advertises itself as the southernmost ski 
area in the United States, relies completely on the weather for snow. In wet 
winter years, it gets four months of skiing. Other years, the ski season 
lasts only days.




http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0205Effluent05-ON.html#